LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
THIS BOOK
C. HALE SII'E. A. H
THE INDIAN WARS
of PENNSYLVANIA
An Account of the Indian Events, in
Pennsylvania, of The French and Indian
War, Pontiac s War, Lord Dunmore's
War, The Revolutionary War and the
Indian Uprising from 1789 to 1795
Tragedies of the Pennsylvania Frontier
Based Primarily on the Penna. Archives and Colonial Records
By
C. HALE SIPE
of the Pittsburgh and Butler Bars; Member of the His-
torical Society of Pennsylvania; Author of "The
Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania" and "Mount
Vernon and the Washington Family"
Introduction by
DR. GEORGE P. DONEHOO, Former State
Librarian of Pennsylvania
For Schools, Colleges, Libraries and
Lovers of Informative Literature
THE TELEGRAPH PRESS
HARRISBURG. PA.
1929
Price $5.00, postpaid. Order from C. Hale Sipe, Butler, Pa.
De.r.
Eve
P4561
Copyrighted 1929
By
C. HALE SIPE
Printed in the United States of America
To the Memory of his Sainted Mother,
from Whom he Inherited a Love for
the History of Pennsylvania,
this Book is Reverently
Dedicated by The
Author
Principal Sources Utilized in the
Preparation of this Work
Archives of Pennsylvania.
Colonial Records of Pennsylvania.
Egle's History of Pennsylvania.
Gordon's History of Pennsylvania.
Day's Historical Collections.
Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania.
Pennypacker's Pennsylvania, the Key-
stone.
Loudon's Indian Narratives.
Rupp's County Histories.
Magazines of the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania.
Egle's Notes and Queries.
Miner's History of Wyoming.
Jenkin's Pennsylvania, Colonial and Fed"
eral.
Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution.
On the Frontier with Colonel Antes.
Meginness' Otzinachson.
Linn's Annals of Buffalo Valley.
Hassler's Old Westmoreland.
Fisher's Making of Pennsylvania.
McClure's Old Time Notes.
Parkman's Works.
Jones' Juniata Valley.
Hanna's Wilderness Trail.
March's History of Pennsylvania.
Smith's History of Armstrong County.
Veech's Monongahela of Old.
McKnight's Pioneer History of North-
western Pennsylvania.
Conover's Journal of the Military Ex-
pedition of Major-General Sullivan
against the Six Nations of New York
in 1779.
Craig's The Olden Time.
Darlington's Fort Pitt and Letters from
the Frontier.
Darlington's Christopher Gist's Journals.
Hodge's Handbook of American Indians.
Sylvester's Indian Wars of New England.
Hulbert's Historic Highways of America.
Rupp's Early History of Western Penn-
sylvania and the West.
Thwaites' Early Western Travels.
Thwaites' Documentary History of Lord
Dunmore's War.
Walton's Conrad Weiser and the Indian
Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania.
Withers' Chronicles of Border Warfare.
Craig's History of Pittsburgh.
Cort's Henry Bouquet.
Keith's Chronicles of Pennsylvania.
Boucher's History of Westmoreland
County.
Albert's History of Westmoreland County.
Donehoo's Pennsylvania — A History.
DeSchweinitz's Life of David Zeisberger.
Espenshade's Pennsylvania Place Names.
Heckewelder's Works.
Mann's Life of Henry Melchior Muhlen-
berg.
Father Lambing's Works.
Butterfield's Washington- Irvine Corres-
pondence.
Washington's Journal.
Celeron's Journal.
Colden's History of the Five Nations.
Volwiler's George Croghan.
Johnson's Swedish Settlements on the
Delaware.
Loskiel's History of the Mission of the
United Brethren Among the Indians
of North America.
Patterson's History of the Backwoods.
Doddridge's Settlement and Indian Wars
of Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Godcharles' Daily Stories of Pennsyl-
vania.
Sawvel's Logan, the Mingo.
And many others.
INTRODUCTION
IT affords me much pleasure to write these few words of intro-
duction to "The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania," of which I
have read the manuscript.
Mr. Sipe has wisely followed the same scientific method in the
collection of his data for this work which he did in his "Indian
Chiefs of Pennsylvania." As a consequence the two books give a
thoroughly accurate picture of the thrillingly romantic period of
Pennsylvania history from 1755 to 1795, during which the
mountains and the valleys of the frontiers of Pennsylvania were
literally drenched with blood.
For nearly three quarters of a century after the Treaty of
William Penn with the Indians on the Delaware, the settlements
of the European races had spread peacefully westward to the
Blue Mountains. Even though there were occasional rumblings
of a threatening storm, the sky was still clear and peace dwelt
in the far-flung settlements, which stretched westward to the
foothills of the Alleghenies.
The struggle between France and Great Britain for the posses-
sion of the Ohio valley and the consequent effort on the part of
both of these rivals for the friendship of the Indian was the final
cause for the conflict between the Indian and the English settler.
The French had traded with the Delaware and the Shawnee,
but had not taken his lands for settlement. On the other hand,
the English had driven the Delaware from his ancestral habitat
on the river which bears his name to the Susquehanna and then
to the Ohio by his land purchases, just and unjust, and the same
fact applies to the Shawnee. The English had, in their spreading
settlements, taken up Indian lands, until practically nothing was
left of their lands east of the mountain ridges. Even their last
place of refuge on the waters of the Ohio, which they were oc-
cupying by permission of the Iroquois, was sought for by the
"land hungry" English.
This land hunger was, so far as the English were concerned, a
hunger for homes by these people of the British Empire, who had
never known what it was to own lands of their own. It was the
real motive in all of the migrations of these peoples from the
lands across the seas. And yet, it caused as serious consequences
to the Indian as did the Spanish search for gold.
INTRODUCTION
After the defeat of the army of General Edward Braddock by
the French and Indians in 1755, the storm which had been slowly
gathering along the waters of the upper Ohio, broke in all of its
mad fury along the eastern foothills of the Alleghenies and for a
period of forty years it raged with but few slight intermissions.
After the Conspiracy of Pontiac, 1763-4, the scene of action
for the worst Indian wars was shifted west of the Alleghenies.
The Purchase of 1768 opened the lands west of the mountains to
the settlers who poured over the mountain ridges in an ever in-
creasing tide. The occupation of these lands along the Ohio by
the white settlers from Pennsylvania and Virginia met with the
armed opposition of the Indians. As a consequence, there was
the long series of Border Wars, expeditions into the "Indian
country" west of the Ohio, and later the union of the British
with the Indians against all of the settlement? in western Penn-
sylvania. These wars did not end until the final overthrow of
the Indian and British by General Anthony Wayne, at Fallen
Timbers, and the Treaty at Greenville, which resulted, in 1795.
The hardships and sufferings of the pioneer settlers of Pennsyl-
vania during these long, weary years of border wars was, however,
the foundation upon which a new nation was to be builded.
Without the training and the discipline in hardship of those years
the War of the American Revolution, which followed so closely
upon these Indian wars, would have been doomed to failure.
These frontiers-men were trained in the use of the rifle and in the
methods of warfare. The generation of young men, which made
up the very backbone of Washington's army had known nothing
but warfare and strife from their earliest infancy. The war-
whoop of the Indian and the whistle of rifle bullets were the
familiar sounds of childhood.
Germantown, Valley Forge, Monmouth, Trenton, Saratoga and
Yorktown could not have been without these years of bitter
training, in the making of Morgan's Riflemen, Proctor's Brigade,
the Eighth Pennsylvania, the Thirteenth Virginia and the other
bodies making up the Continental Army from the frontiers of
Pennsylvania.
Not only the enlisted men, but also the great majority of the
most effective officers of the Army of Washington were trained
for war on the frontiers of Pennsylvania. Washington, Wayne,
Mercer, Morgan, Armstrong, Proctor, Burd, Clapham, Shippen,
Brodhead, St. Clair, Irvine, Crawford and Sullivan are but a few
INTRODUCTION
of the graduates of this "West Point" of the frontiers of Penn-
sylvania.
Mr. Sipe in his "Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania" has given a
critical, and romantic picture of the Indian chiefs who played
such vital parts upon the stage of history during this period. In
the present work, "The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania," he tells
what these chiefs did to make the pioneer history of the frontiers
of Pennsylvania one of the most thrilling chapters in American
history. He fully and accurately covers the events of these
Border Wars, which had so much to do with the Birth of a Nation.
GEORGE P. DONEHOO.
PREFACE
ii^ I '^HE Indian Wars of Pennsylvania" has been written in
X response to the requests of many historians and educators,
not only in Pennsylvania but in other parts of the United States,
who were well pleased with the author's "Indian Chiefs of Penn-
sylvania." Until the appearance of "The Indian Chiefs of Penn-
sylvania," in April, 1927, the author was unknown to the lovers
of the history of the Keystone State; and he believes that the
fine reception given this book was due, in large measure, to the
fact that it was highly endorsed by that eminent authority on
Pennsylvania history. Dr. George P. Donehoo, whose "History
of the Indian Place Names in Pennsylvania" and forthcoming
"History of the Indian Trails of Pennsylvania" should find a
place in the library of every lover of the history of the Penn-
sylvania Indians.
"The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania" is based primarily on the
Pennsylvania Archives and the Pennsylvania Colonial Records.
No effort has been spared to make the book a trustworthy and
authoritative work on the great Indian wars and uprisings which
crimsoned the soil of Pennsylvania with the blood of both the
Indian and the white man during the long period from 1755 to
1795. Throughout the book will be found many references to
the Pennsylvania Archives and the Pennsylvania Colonial Re-
cords and many quotations from these and other trustworthy
sources.
The need for the present volume is apparent. There is no
more thrilling and tragic chapter in American History than the
period of the Indian wars and uprisings in Pennsylvania. Penn-
sylvania suffered more than did any other Colony during this
period. Yet how few are familiar with this important period in
the history of Pennsylvania! And the reason is that historical
writers have not given the Indian wars and uprisings in Pennsyl-
vania the attention that their importance deserves.
We read the history of Greece, of Rome, of England. Why
should we neglect the history of the great race that roamed the
hills and vales of Pennsylvania and left its sounding names on
the Pennsylvania mountains, valleys and streams?
The reader will note that more than one hundred and seventy-
five pages of the present volume deal with the Indian events in
PREFACE
Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. The author be-
lieves that students of the Revolutionary struggle will appreciate
this fact. Few historians seem to realize how largely the Revolu-
tionary War was fought on the frontiers of Pennsylvania.
Perhaps a few words should be said concerning the plan of
"The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania." The author thought it
well not to have the book begin abruptly with the account of
the first conflict between the Indian and the white man in
Pennsylvania. Hence, the opening chapters are devoted to the
Indian's religion and character; to a view of the Indian tribes
that inhabited Pennsylvania; to a discussion of the Indian
policy of the Swedes on the Delaware and of William Penn;
and to the leading events in the Indian history of Pennsylvania
before the bloody warfare between the two races began. This
plan, the author believes, will enable the reader to make a more
intelligent and satisfactory study of the many years of bloody
conflict between the two races in Pennsylvania. The volume is
thus much more than a history of the Indian wars and uprisings
in the state bearing the name of Penn, the apostle.
C. HALE SIPE.
Butler, Pennsylvania,
February 2, 1929.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE author desires to thank the hundreds of Pennsylvanians
and others who subscribed for "The Indian Wars of Penn-
sylvania" before the manuscript was handed to the printer.
He especially thanks the following persons for substantial sub-
scriptions :
Governor John S. Fisher and State Librarian Frederick A.
Godcharles of Pennsylvania; Prof. John A, Anthony, Pittsburgh,
Penna., Jos. A. Beck, Esq., Pittsburgh, Penna.; G. H. Blakeley,
Bethlehem, Penna.; Hon. Marshall Brown, Pittsburgh, Penna.;
Capt. W. R. Furlong, Washington, D. C.; Earle R. Forrest,
Washington, Penna.; John Gribbel and W. Grififin Gribbel,
Wyncote, Penna.; Jos. F. Guflfey, Pittsburgh, Penna.; Hon.
D. B. Heiner, Kittanning, Penna.; Dr. C. G. Hughes, Pittsburgh,
Penna.; E. H. Hutchison, Harmony, Penna.; Dr. C. E. Imbrie,
Butler, Penna.; Prof. V. K. Irvine, Butler, Penna.; Mrs. Cecelia
R. Jamison, Greensburg, Penna.; Hon. J. W. King, Kittanning,
Penna.; Hon. Richard H. Koch, Pottsville, Penna.; H. K. Landis,
Lancaster, Penna.; J. B. Landis, Butler, Penna.; Rachel R. Lowe,
Pittsburgh, Penna.; Hon. W. Frank Mathues, Philadelphia,
Penna. ; Hon. Geo. W. Maxey, Scranton, Penna. ; W. H. McClane,
Washington, Penna.; Harry A. Neeb, Jr., Pittsburgh, Penna.;
H. R. Pratt, Baltimore, Md.; W. L. Riggs, Esq., McKeesport,
Penna.; A. C. Robinson, Sewickley, Penna.; J. V. Scaife, Pitts-
burgh, Penna.; Samuel Shoemaker, Philadelphia, Penna.; Homer
H. Swaney, Esq., Beaver Falls, Penna.; Vernon F. Taylor,
Indiana, Penna.; Hon. Henry W. Temple, Washington, Penna.;
Hon. Theo. L, Wilson, Clarion, Penna; Henry Wittmer, Pitts-
burgh, Penna.; J. E. Henretta, Kane, Penna.; J. B. Warriner,
Lansford, Penna.; W. M. Laverty, Philadelphia, Penna.; and
M. Wilson Stewart, Esq., Pittsburgh, Penna.
The author is under great obligation to Dr. George P. Donehoo
for his careful reading of the proofs and making many suggestions.
Additional thanks are due State Librarian Frederick A. God-
charles for many courtesies extended the author in the use of
rare volumes in the Pennsylvania State Library. Finally, the
author thanks the many educators and historians in Pennsylvania
and other parts of the United States, who suggested to him the
writing of this specialized history, and he hopes the book will
come up to their expectations.
C. HALE SIPE.
Butler, Pennsylvania,
February 2, 1929.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Captain John Smith's Sketch of a Susquehanna or Cones-
toga Chief 28
Conrad Weiser's Home and Monument 100
Marker Near Grave of Shikellamy 134
Statue to George Washington at Waterford, Pa 148
View of Braddock's Field in 1803 190
Marker at Kittanning 312
Statue of "The White Woman of The Genessee" 380
Monument Marking the Approximate Spot Where Wash-
ington Was Fired Upon, December 27th, 1753 400
Ravine on Battle Field of Bushy Run and Brush Creek
Church 440
Plan of the Battle of Bushy Run 448
A War Poster Used in Western Pennsylvania During the
Revolution 506
Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) 558
Major-General John Sullivan, Brigadier-General Edward
Hand and view of the Genesee River 604
Colonel (later Brevet General) Daniel Brodhead 628
Monument at Grave of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland 684
Monument at Grave of General Arthur St. Clair 698
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I — The Pennsylvania Indians — Their ReHgion and
Character 17
II — The Pennsylvania Indian Tribes 28
III — The Swedes and William Penn 59
IV — Principal Indian Events from 1701 to 1754. ... 82
V — Opening of the French and Indian War 152
VI — General Braddock's Campaign 177
VII — The First Delaware Invasion 203
VIII — Invasion of the Great and Little Coves and the
Conolloways 217
IX — Massacres of November and December, 1755. . 230
X — Massacres Early in 1756 255
XI — Carlisle Council — War Declared 276
XII — Atrocities in the Summer and Autumn of 1756 . . 284
XIII — Destruction of Kittanning 304
XIV— Efforts for Peace in 1756 321
XV— Events of the Year 1757 333
XVI — Post's Peace Missions — Grand Council at
Easton 356
XVII — General Forbes' Expedition against Fort Du-
quesne 387
XVIII— Pontiac's War 407
XIX— Pontiac's War (Continued) 439
XX— Pontiac's War (Continued) 450
XXI— Pontiac's War (Continued) 470
XXII— Lord Dunmore's War 488
XXIII— The Revolutionary War (1775, 1776 and 1777). 506
XXIV— The Revolutionary War (1778) 527
XXV— The Revolutionary War (1779) 573
XXVI— The Revolutionary War (1780) : 607
XXVII— The Revolutionary War (1781) 627
XXVIII— The Revolutionary War (1782-1783) 647
XXIX — The Post- Revolutionary Uprising 685
Appendix 720
Index 762
CHAPTER I
The Pennsylvania Indians — Their
Religion and Character
Go where we may, in Pennsylvania, we are put in remem-
brance of the American Indian by the beautiful names he
gave to the valleys, streams and mountains where he roamed for
untold generations, never dreaming that from afar would come
a stronger race which would plant amid the wilderness the hamlet
and the town and cause cities to rise where the forest waved over
the home of his heart. The Wyoming Valley; the Tuscarora
Valley; the winding Susquehanna; the blue Juniata; the broad
Ohio; the Kittatinny Mountain ; the Allegheny Mountains — these
are but a few of the everlasting reminders of the Pennsylvania
Indians. Until the new heavens arch themselves and until the
new earth comes, our Pennsylvania valleys will lie smiling in the
sunlight, our Pennsylvania streams will go singing to the sea,
and our Pennsylvania mountains will lift their summits to the
sky; and throughout the ages may succeeding generations of
Pennsylvanians realize that the Indian loved these valleys, these
streams, these mountains, with a love as strong as that hallowing
passion which touched the Grecian mountain-pass of Thermo-
pylae more than twenty-four hundred years ago, and has caused
it to glow with never-dying lustre through the long night of
centuries. It was love for the land of his fathers that caused the
Indian to fight to the death for his home and hunting grounds.
A child of nature, the Indian knew not the God of revelation;
but the God of the universe and nature he acknowledged in all
things around him, — the sun, the moon, the stars, the flowers,
the singing birds, the mighty oaks and sighing pines of the forest,
the pleasant valleys, the babbling brooks, the dashing water-falls,
the rushing rivers, the lofty mountains. Reverently he wor-
shipped the Great Spirit, who created him, who governed the
world, who taught the streams to flow and the bird to build her
nest, who caused day and night and the changing seasons, who
18 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
stocked the streams with fish and the forests with game for his
Red Children. To the Great Spirit went up many a pure prayer
from the Indian's dark bosom. He prayed when he went on the
chase; he prayed when he sat down to partake of the fruits of the
chase; he prayed when he went to war. And when he closed his
eyes in death, it was in the firm belief that death was mere
transition to the Happy Hunting Ground, where, with care and
sorrow removed, he would pursue the deer throughout the
endless ages of eternity.
The Testimony of Heckewelder
The Moravian missionary. Rev. John Heckewelder, who
labored for many years among the Delawares of Pennsylvania
and Ohio, beginning his work in 1762, makes the following state-
ments concerning the Indian's religion and character, in his
"Indian Nations", published in 1818:
"The Indian considers himself as being created by an all-
powerful, wise, and benevolent Mannito (Manitou); all that he
possesses, all that he enjoys, he looks upon as given to him or
allotted for his use by the Great Spirit who gave him life. He
therefore believes it to be his duty to adore and worship his
Creator and benefactor; to acknowledge with gratitude his past
favours, thank him for present blessings, and solicit the con-
tinuation of his good will. An old Indian told me, about fifty
years ago, that when he was young, he still followed the custom
of his father and ancestors, in climbing upon a high mountain or
pinnacle, to thank the Great Spirit for all the benefits before
bestowed, and to pray for a continuance of his favor; that they
were sure their prayers were heard, and acceptable to the Great
Spirit, although he did not himself appear unto them.
"They think that he, the Great Spirit, made the earth and all
that it contains for the common good of mankind ; when he stocked
the country that he gave them with plenty of game, it was not
for the benefit of a few, but of all. Every thing was given in
common for the sons of men . . . From this principle, hos-
pitality flows as from its source. With them, it is not a virtue,
but a strict duty. Hence they are never in search of excuses to
avoid giving, but freely supply their neighbour's wants from the
stock prepared for their own use. They give and are hospitable
to all, without exception, and will always share with each other
and often with the stranger, even to their last morsel. They
INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 19
rather would lie down themselves on an empty stomach, than
have it laid to their charge that they had neglected their duty by
not satisfying the wants of the stranger, the sick or the needy. . .
"They treat each other with civility, and show much affection
on meeting after an absence . . . They are not quarrelsome, and
are always on their guard, so as not to offend each other. They
do not fight with each other; they say that fighting is only for
dogs and beasts. They are, however, fond of play, yet very
careful that they do not offend. They are remarkable for the
particular respect which they pay to old age. In all their
meetings, whether public or private, they pay the greatest
attention to the observations and advice of the aged ; no one will
attempt to contradict them, nor to interfere in any manner or
even to speak, unless he is specially called upon."
Heckewelder says that, while marriages among the Indians
were not contracted for life, it being understood that the parties
were not to live together longer than they should be pleased with
each other, yet both parties, sensible of this understanding, did
every thing in their power to please each other. The husband
built the home, and considered himself bound to support the wife
and family by his exertions as hunter, fisher and trapper, while
the wife took upon herself the labor of planting and raising corn
and other products of the soil. The wife, he says, considered her
labor much lighter than that of the husband, "for they them-
selves say that, while their field labour employs them at most six
weeks in the year, that of the men continues the whole year round.
Neither creeks nor rivers, whether shallow or deep, frozen or free
from ice, must be an obstacle to the hunter, when in pursuit of
a wounded deer, bear, or other animal, as is often the case. Nor
has he then leisure to think on the state of his body, and to con-
sider whether his blood is not too much heated to plunge without
danger into the cold stream, since the game he is in pursuit of is
running off from him with full speed. Many dangerous accidents
often befall him, both as a hunter and a warrior (for he is both),
and are seldom unattended with painful consequences, such as
rheumatism, or comsumption of the lungs, for which the sweat-
house, on which they so much depend, and to which they often
resort for relief, especially after a fatiguing hunt or warlike ex-
pedition, is not always a sure preservative or an effectual remedy."
Heckewelder also says that, if the sick squaw longed for an
article of food, be it what it may or however difficult to procure,
the husband would at once endeavor to get it for her, and that
20 THE^INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
he knew of instances where the husband would go forty or fifty
miles for a mess of cranberries to satisfy his wife's longing.
Speaking of the Indians' cruelty to their enemies, Heckewelder
says:
"The Indians are cruel to their enemies! In some cases they
are, but perhaps not more so than white men have sometimes
shewn themselves. There have been instances of white men
flaying or taking off the skin of Indians who had fallen into their
hands, and then tanning those skins, or cutting them in pieces,
making them up into razor-straps, and exposing those for sale, as
was done at or near Pittsburg, sometime during the Revolutionary
War. Those things are abominations in the eyes of the Indians,
who, indeed, when strongly excited, inflict torments on their
prisoners and put them to death by cruel tortures, but never are
guilty of acts of barbarity in cold blood. Neither do the Dela-
wares, and some other Indian nations, ever, on any account,
disturb the ashes of the dead."
Contrary to the general supposition, the Indian was not cruel
by nature. His cruelty was confined to the times when he was
on the war path; and even then, there is no record of his having
committed a deed as disgusting, revolting and horrible as the
murder of the ninety-six Christian Delawares, at Gnadenhuetten,
Ohio, on the 8th of March, 1782, by Colonel David Williamson
and his band of Scotch-Irish settlers from Washington County,
Pennsylvania.
During the long Indian wars, in Pennsylvania, from 1755 to
1795, hundreds of white persons, captured by the Indians, were
adopted into Indian families, to take the places mostly of war-
riors who had fallen on the field of the slain. These captives, so
adopted, were treated with great kindness, and were looked upon
by the Indians as their own flesh and blood. Many, indeed,
were the instances of captives, recovered by the whites, who later
returned to the forest homes of their Indian friends and adopted
Indian relatives. Heckewelder speaks of the humanity and
delicacy with which the Indians treated female prisoners whom
they intended to adopt. The early Indian never captured
women, white or red, for immoral purposes. (Page 381.)
The fiercest passion in the Indian's wild heart was the love of
revenge, but, on the other hand, he would give his life for the
protection of a friend. There was none more constant and stead-
fast as a friend. He would share his last morsel with the stranger
within his gates. He was the noblest type of primitive man that
ever trod the earth.
INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 21
Among the children of men there were none who could equal
him in power of endurance and capacity for suffering. He could
travel on foot for days without food. He could be tortured to
death by fire without a groan escaping his lips, and he chanted
his death song with his latest breath.
The Indian's Pride
Says, Heckewelder, speaking of the Delawares or Lenni-Lenape;
"They will not admit that the whites are superior beings. They
say that the hair of their heads, their features, the various colours
of their eyes, evince that they are not like themselves Lenni
Lenape, an Original People, a race of men that has existed un-
changed from the beginning of time; but they are a mixed race,
and therefore a troublesome one. Wherever they may be, the
Great Spirit, knowing the wickedness of their disposition, found
it necessary to give them a great Book, and taught them how to
read it, that they might know and observe what he wished them
to do and to abstain from. But they, the Indians, have no need
of any such book to let them know the will of their Maker; they
find it engraved on their own hearts; they have had sufficient
discernment given to them to distinguish good from evil, and by
following that guide, they are sure not to err.
"It is true, they confess, that when they first saw the whites,
they took them for beings of a superior kind. They did not know
but that they had been sent to them from the abode of the Great
Spirit for some great and important purpose. They therefore
welcomed them, hoping to be made happier by their company.
It was not long, however, before they discovered their mistake,
having found them an ungrateful, insatiable people, who, though
the Indians had given them as much land as was necessary to
raise provisions for themselves and their families, and pasture for
their cattle, wanted still to have more, and at last would not be
contented with less than the whole country. 'And yet,' say those
injured people, 'these white men would always be telling us of
their great Book which God had given to them; they would
persuade us that every man was good who believed in what the
Book said, and every man was bad who did not believe in it.
They told us a great many things, which, they said, were written
in the good Book, and wanted us to believe it all. We would
probably have done so, if we had seen them practise what they
pretended to believe, and act according to the good words which
22 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
they told us. But no! While they held their big Book in one
hand, in the other, they had murderous weapons, guns and swords
wherewith to kill us, poor Indians. Ah! and they did so, too;
they killed those who believed in their Book, as well as those who
did not. They made no distinction!"
Effects of the White Man's Rum and Vices
Having seen that the Indian had many virtues, it is but fair
to add that many of these virtues were broken down by the white
man. We refer particularly to the ruin wrought among the
Indians by the white man's rum and vices. The Indian knew
neither rum nor shameful diseases until his contact with the
white man. Hear Heckewelder:
"So late as about the middle of the last century (the eighteenth
century), the Indians were yet a hardy and healthy people, and
many very aged men and women were seen among them, some of
whom thought they had lived about one hundred years. They
frequently told me and others that, when they were young men,
their people did not marry so early as they did since, that even
at twenty they were called boys, and durst not wear a breech-
clout, as the men did at that time, but had only a small bit of
skin hanging before them. Neither, did they say, were they sub-
ject to so many disorders as in later times, and many of them
calculated on dying of old age. But since that time, a great
change has taken place in the constitution of those Indians who
live nearest to the whites. By the introduction of ardent spirits
among them, they have been led into vices which have brought on
disorders which, they say, were unknown before; their blood be-
came corrupted by a shameful complaint, which, they say, they
had never known or heard of until the Europeans came among
them. Now the Indians are affected with it to a great degree;
children frequently inherit it from their parents, and after
lingering for a few years, at last die victims to this poison. Our
vices have destroyed them more than our swords.
"The general prevalence of drunkenness among the Indians is,
in a great degree, owing to the unprincipled white traders, who
persuade them to become intoxicated that they may cheat them
the more easily, and obtain their lands or pelfries for a mere
trifle. Within the last fifty years, some instances have even come
to my knowledge of white men having enticed Indians to drink,
and when they were drunk, murdered them. The effects which
INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 23
intoxication produces upon the Indians are dreadful. It has been
the cause of an infinite number of murders among them. I can-
not say how many have died of colds and other disorders, which
they have caught by lying upon the cold ground, and remaining
exposed to the elements, when drunk; others have lingered out
their lives in excruciating rheumatic pains and in wasting con-
sumptions until death came to relieve them of their sufferings.
I once asked an Indian at Pittsburgh, whom I had not seen before,
who he was. He answered in broken English: 'My name is
Blackfish ; when at home with my nation, I am a clever fellow,
and when here, a hog.' He meant that by means of the liquor
which the white people gave him, he was sunk to the level of that
beast."
Heckewelder says that reflecting Indians keenly remarked
"that it was strange that a people who professed themselves
believers in a religion, revealed to them by the Great Spirit him-
self; who say that they have in their houses the Word of God and
his laws and commandments textually written, could think of
making a beson (liquor), calculated to bewitch people and make
them destroy one another."
Heckewelder's observations concerning the English traders are
the sad truth. They took advantage of the Indians' inordinate
appetite for rum; they cheated them out of their skins and furs;
they debauched their women. The Pennsylvania Assembly, in
a letter to Governor Hamilton, February 27th, 1754, character-
ized the traders as "the vilest of our own inhabitants and convicts
imported from Great Britain and Ireland." The traders of other
Colonies, many of whom entered Pennsylvania, were no better
than the Pennsylvania traders. Said Governor Dinwiddie, of
Virginia, in a letter to Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, May
21st, 1753: "The Indian traders, in general, appear to me to be
a set of abandoned wretches." In a word, the English traders,
with few exceptions, were a vile and infamous horde, who, in-
stead of contributing to the betterment of the Indian, corrupted
and debauched him.
Protests Against the Rum Traffic
Rum was the curse of the Red Man, and the leading Indian
chiefs recognized it as such. Hence, from the very beginning of
the rum trafific among the Pennsylvania Indians, we find a series
of protests by their chiefs to the Pennsylvania Authorities. When
24 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the Conestoga or Susquehanna chief, Oretyagh, with a number of
other chiefs of the Conestogas and Shawnees, bade farewell to
William Penn, on October 7th, 1701, just a short time before
Penn left his Province never to return, this sachem, in the name
of the rest, told him that the Indians had long suffered from the
ravages of the rum traffic, and Penn informed Oretyagh and
associate chiefs that the Assembly was at that time enacting a
law, according to their desire, to prevent their being abused by
the selling of rum among them. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 2, pages 45-
46.) Penn early saw the degredation which the Indians' un-
quenchable thirst for strong drink wrought among them, and he
did all in his power to remedy this matter. But the law was no
sooner enacted than it was disregarded by the traders. Then, in
the minutes of a council held at Philadelphia, on May 16th, 1704,
we read the last reference to Oretyagh in recorded history, a
protest against the rum traffic, as follows:
"Oretyagh, the chief now of Conestoga, requested him [Nicole
Godin, a trader] to complain to the Governor [John Evans] of
the great quantities of rum continually brought to their town,
insomuch that they [the Conestogas] are ruined by it, having
nothing left, but have laid out all, even their clothes for rum, and
may now, when threatened with war, be surprised by their
enemies, when besides themselves with drink, and so utterly be
destroyed." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 2, page 141.)
The great Shikellamy, the most renowned Indian that ever
lived in Pennsylvania, shortly after taking up his residence on
the Susquehanna, as vice-gerent of the Six Nations over the
Delawares, Shawnees and other Indians in the eastern part of
Pennsylvania, served notice on the Colonial Authorities that, if
the rum traffic among the Indians were not better regulated,
friendly relations between the Six Nations and the Colony of
Pennsylvania would cease.
As we shall see in the next chapter, the Shawnees, who entered
eastern Pennsylvania as early as 1694, began, about 1724 to 1727,
to migrate to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny. One of the
reasons why they migrated to the western part of the state, was
to escape the ruinous effects of strong liquor. But the trader
with his rum followed them into the forests of their western homes.
Then the Shawnee on the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas, and
Allegheny took steps, in 1738, to restrain this pernicious traffic.
On March 20th of that year, three of their chiefs in this region,
namely; "Loyporcowah (Opessah's Son), Newcheconneh (Deputy
INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 25
King), and Coycacolenne, or Coracolenne (Chief Counsellor),"
wrote a letter to Thomas Penn and James Logan, Secretary of
the Provincial Council, in which they acknowledged the receipt
of a present from Penn and Logan of powder, lead, and tobacco,
delivered to them by the trader, George Miranda; in which they
say they have a good understanding with the French, the Five
Nations, the Ottawas, and all the French Indians; that the tract
of land reser\'ed for them by the Proprietory Government on the
west side of the Susquehanna does not suit them at present; and
that they desire to remain in the region of the Allegheny and
Kiskiminetas, make a strong town there, and keep their warriors
from making war upon other nations at a distance. They then
add:
"After we heard your letter read, and all our people being
gathered together, we held a council together, to leave ofif drinking
for the space of four years . . . There was not many of our
traders at home at the time of our council, but our friends, Peter
Chartier and George Miranda; but the proposal of stopping the
rum and all strong liquors was made to the rest in the winter, and
they were all willing. As soon as it was concluded of, all the rum
that was in the towns was staved and spilled, belonging both to
Indians and white people, which in quantity consisted of about
forty gallons, that was thrown in the street; and we have appoint-
ed four men to stave all the rum or strong liquors that is brought
to the towns hereafter, either by Indians or white men, during
the four years." A pledge signed by ninety-eight Shawnees and
the two traders above named accompanied this letter, agreeing
that all rum should be destroyed, and four men appointed in
every town to see that no strong liquor should be brought into
the Shawnee towns for the term of four years. (Pa. Archives,
Vol. 1, pages 549-55L)
Previous to this action on part of Loyparcowah and other
chiefs of the Shawnees, the Delawares at Kittanning made com-
plaints concerning the rum traffic. In 1732, the trader, Edmund
Cartlidge, wrote the Governor from Kittanning that the chiefs
there made reflections on the Government for permitting such
large quantities of rum to be carried to the Allegheny and sold to
the Indians at that place, contrary to law. Also, in 1733, the
Shawnee chiefs in the Allegheny region wrote the Governor re-
questing that he send them an order permitting them "to break
in pieces all kegs of rum so brought yearly and monthly by some
new upstart of a trader without a license, who comes amongst us
26 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
and brings nothing but rum, no powder, nor lead, nor clothing,
but takes away with him those skins which the old licensed traders
who bring us everything necessary, ought to have in return for
their goods sold us some years since." Also in 1734, the Shawnee
chiefs at Allegheny wrote the Governor and requested that none
of the licensed traders be allowed to bring them more than thirty
gallons of rum twice in a year, except Peter Chartier, who "trades
further than ye rest."
Also, the able Indian orator and wise counselor, Scarouady,
later successor to Tanacharison, the Half King, protested to the
Pennsylvania Commissioners at the Carlisle Conference of Octo-
ber, 1753, as follows:
"Your traders now bring scarce any thing but Rum and Flour
. . . The Rum ruins us. We beg you would prevent its coming
in such quantities by regulating the traders . . . When these
Whiskey Traders come, they bring thirty or forty Caggs (kegs)
and put them down before Us and make Us drink, and get all the
Skins that should go to pay the Debts We have contracted for
Goods bought of the Fair Traders, and by these means we not
only ruin Ourselves but them too. These wicked Whiskey
Sellers, when they have once got the Indians in Liquor, make
them sell the very Clothes from their Backs. In short, if this
Practice be continued. We must inevitably be ruined. We most
earnestly, therefore, beseech You to remedy it." (Pa. Col. Rec,
Vol. 5, page 676.)
The whiskey traders were not checked. They continued their
work unabated, in spite of the solemn protestations of the Indian
chiefs and in spite of the protestations of such good white men as
Conrad Weiser, who, on November 28th, 1747, wrote the Provin-
cial Council of Pennsylvania characterizing the havoc wrought
among the Pennsylvania Indians as "an abomination before
God and man." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 5, page 167.)
The Testimony of Adario
The foregoing statements relate principally to the Pennsylvania
Indians. Let us, at this point, hear the testimony of a great
Indian chief whose tribe did not inhabit Pennsylvania, the brave
and sagacious Huron chief, Adario, who was gathered to his
fathers in 1701. Out of the past comes the voice of Adario:
"As for the maple-water that we drink, 'tis sweet, well tasted,
healthful, and friendly to the stomach, whereas your wine and
INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 27
brandy destroy the natural heat, pall the stomach, inflame the
blood, intoxicate, and create a thousand disorders. A man in
drink loses his reason before he is aware, or, at least, his reason is
so drowned that he is not capable of distinguishing what he ought
to do." When told that God had sent the Europeans to America
to save the souls of the Indians, this great Huron replied that it
was more likely that God had sent the Europeans to this continent
to learn to be good ; "for", said he, "the innocence of our lives, the
love we tender to our brethren, and the tranquility of mind which
we enjoy in contemplating business to our interest, these, I say,
are the three great things that the Great Spirit requires of all men
in general. We practice all these things in our villages naturally ;
while the Europeans defame, kill, rob, and pull one another to
pieces, in their towns. Your money is the father of luxury,
lasciviousness, intrigues, tricks, lying, treachery, falseness, and,
in a word, all the mischief in the world . . . Consider this and
tell me if we are not right in refusing to finger it, or so much as
look upon the cursed metal, since all these evils caused by it are
unknown to us . . . All our actions are guided by justice,
equity, charity, sincerity and true faith . . . Using bad language
and cursing the Great Spirit were never heard among us."
The Author's Purpose
The author's purpose in writing this chapter and the three
which follow before the wars between the Pennsylvania Indians
and the white man are treated, is to give the reader and student
that background which any fair minded student of the Indian
wars of Pennsylvania should have. As the reader proceeds, he
will find many things that reflect no honor on the whites. But
it is the author's duty to record the wrongs committed upon the
Indian as well as the wrongs committed by him. History must
not hide the truth.
CHAPTER II
The Pennsylvania Indian Tribes
We shall devote this chapter to a brief view of the Indian
tribes that inhabited Pennsylvania within the historic period.
The Susquehannas, Minquas, or Conestogas
THE Susquehannas is the general term applied to the Indians
living on both sides of the Susquehanna River and its
tributaries, in Pennsylvania, at the beginning of the historic
period. Racially and linguistically, they were of Iroquoian stock,
but were never taken into the league of the Iroquois, except as
subjects. These related tribes were known by various names.
Captain John Smith, the Virginia pioneer, who met them while
exploring Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in 1608, called them
the "Susquehannocks." The French called them the Andastes,
while the Dutch and Swedes called them Minquas. In the latter
days of their history as a tribe, they were called the Conestogas.
To Captain John Smith, of the Colony of Virginia, belongs the
distinction of being the first white man to see the Indians of
Pennsylvania, though he never set foot on Pennsylvania soil;
and the Indians meeting him and his companions, beheld for
the first time the race that was coming to drive them from their
streams and hunting grounds. These Indians were the Sus-
quehannas. Smith held a conference with sixty of the Susque-
hannocks, near the head of Chesapeake Bay, about August 1,
1608, as he and twelve companions were making an exploring
expedition. The sixty Susquehannocks had come from one of
their principal towns in what is now Lancaster County, Penn-
sylvania. Smith gives the following interesting description of
these Indians:
"Such great and well proportioned men are seldom seen, for
they seemed like giants to the English, yea, and to their neighbors,
yet seemed of an honest and simple disposition. They were with
much ado restrained from adoring us as gods. These are the
'•*>"•;
/><v
'/"i'-Vl-''' •"■■■•:■'■•■ ■ V !^
:^-^A><_:> b
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S SKETCH OF A SUSQUEHANNA OR
CONESTOGA CHIEF.
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 29
strangest people of all these countries, both in language and attire;
for their language it may well become their proportions, sounding
from them as a voice in the vault. Their attire is the skins of
bears and wolves; some have cossacks made of bears' heads and
skins, that a man's head goes through the skin's neck, and the ears
of the bear fastened to his shoulders, the nose and teeth hanging
down his breast, another bear's face split behind him, and at the
end of the nose hung a paw, the half sleeves coming to the elbows
were the necks of bears, and the arms through the mouth with
paws hanging at their noses. One had the head of a wolfe hanging
in a chain for a jewel, his tobacco pipe three quarters of a yard
long, prettily carved with a bird, a deer, or some such device at
the great end, sufficient to beat out one's brains; with bows,
arrows, and clubs, suitable to their greatness. Five of their chief
Werowances came aboard us and crossed the bay in the barge.
The picture of the greatest of them is signified in the map. The
calf of whose leg was three-quarters of a yard about, and all the
rest of his limbs so answerable to that proportion that he seemed
the goodliest man we ever beheld. His hair, the one side was
long, the other shorn close with a ridge over his crown like a
cock's comb. His arrows were five quarters long, headed with
the splinters of a white christall-like stone, in form of a heart,
an inch broad, an inch and a half or more long. These he wore
in a wolf's skin at his back for his quiver, his bow in the one hand
and his club in the other, as is described."
Smith goes on to say that these Susquehannas were scarce
known to Powhatan, the great Virginia chief, but that they were
a powerful tribe living in palisaded towns to defend them from
the Massawomeks, or Iroquois, and having six hundred warriors.
During the ceremonies connected with the visit of this band of
Susquehannas, Smith says that they first sang "a most fearful
song," and then, "with a most strange, furious action and a hellish
voice began an oration." When the oration was ended, they
decorated Smith with a chain of large white beads, and laid
presents of skins and arrows at his feet, meanwhile stroking their
hands about his neck. They told him about their enemies, the
Iroquois, who, they said, lived beyond the mountains far to the
north and received their hatchets and other weapons from the
French in Canada. They implored Smith to remain with them as
their protector, which, of course, he could not do. "We left them
at Tockwogh," he says, "sorrowing for our departure."
Smith's account of the large stature of the Susquehannas has
30 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
been corroborated by subsequent discoveries, when burying
grounds of this tribe, in Lancaster County, were opened and very
large human skeletons found.
The Susquehannas, in the early part of the seventeenth cen-
tury, carried on war with the "River Indians," as the Delawares,
or Lenape then living along the Delaware River, were called. The
Susquehannas were friendly with both the Swedes and the Dutch,
and shortly after the Swedes arrived on the Delaware in 1638, they
sold part of their lands to them. The Swedes equipped these
Indians with guns, and trained their warriors in European tactics.
When the Hurons were being worsted by the Iroquois in 1647, the
Susquehannas offered the friendly Hurons military assistance,
"backed by 1300 warriors in a single palisaded town, who had
been trained by Swedish soldiers." They were also friendly with
the colony of Maryland in the early days of its history, selling
part of their lands to the Marylanders, and receiving military
supplies from them.
The Swedes, during their occupancy of the lower Delaware,
carried on trade with the Susquehannas, the extent of which is
seen in the report of Governor-General John Printz, of New
Sweden, for 1647, in which he states that, because of the conflict
of his colonists with the Dutch, he had suffered a loss of "8,000 or
9,000 beavers which have passed out of our hands" and which,
but for the Dutch, would have been gotten from "the great
traders, the Minquas."
The French explorer, Champlain, says that, in 1615, the Car-
antouannais, as he calls the Susquehannas, had many villages on
the upper part of the Susquehanna, and that their town, Caran-
touan, alone, could muster more than eight hundred warriors.
The exact location of Carantouan has been a matter of much
conjecture, but the weight of authority places it on or near the
top of Spanish Hill, in Athens Township, Bradford County,
Pennsylvania, and within sight of the town of Waverly, New York
In the summer of 1615, Champlain was assisting the Hurons
in their war against the Iroquois, and when he was at the lower
end of Lake Simcoe, making preparations for advance against
the Iroquois town located most likely near the present town of
Fenner, in Madison County, New York, he learned from the
Hurons that there was a certain nation of their allies dwelling
three days journey beyond the Onondagas, who desired to assist
the Hurons in this expedition with five hundred of their warriors.
These allies were none other than that portion of the Susque-
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 31
hannas, living along the Susquehanna River, near the boundary
between the states of Pennsylvania and New York. Accordingly,
Champlain sent his interpreter, Estienne Brule, with twelve
Huron companions, to visit Carantouan, the chief town of the
Susquehannas in that region, for the purpose of hastening the
coming of the five hundred warriors.
Brule and his five hundred allies from Carantouan arrived be-
fore the Onondaga fortress too late to be of any assistance to
Champlain, who had already made two attacks upon the town,
had been wounded twice by the Onondagas, and, despairing of
the arrival of the promised assistance of five hundred warriors,
had already retreated toward Canada several days before the
arrival of Brule and his Indians. Brule then returned with his
five hundred warriors to the town of Carantouan.
Brule spent the autumn and winter of 1615 and 1616 in a tour
of exploration into the very heart of Pennsylvania, visiting the
various clans of the Susquehannas and, some authorities say,
the Eries. He followed the Susquehanna River to its mouth, and
returned to Carantouan. This intrepid Frenchman thus gained,
by actual observation, a knowledge of a large section of the state
and of its primitive inhabitants almost one hundred years before
any other white man set foot within the same region.
Another town of the Susquehannas was the one, later called
Gahontoto, at the mouth of Wyalusing Creek, Bradford County.
The Moravian missionaries, Bishop Commerhoff and David
Zeisberger, visited the site of this town in the summer of 1750.
Another of the towns of the Susquehannas is believed to have
been at the mouth of Sugar Creek, in Bradford County, above the
present town of Towanda. Still another of their towns, this one
fortified, was near the mouth of Octorara Creek, on the east side
of the Susquehanna River, in Maryland, about ten miles south
of the line between Pennsylvania and Maryland. One of their
forts was in Manor Township, Lancaster County, near the
Susquehanna River, between Turkey Hill and Blue Rock.
Another was on Wolf Run near Muncy, Lycoming County. The
location of their principal fort was long a matter of dispute, and,
at one time, actual warfare, between the heirs of Lord Baltimore
and the heirs of William Penn, for the reason that the southern
boundary of Penn's colony was supposed to be marked by it.
The weight of authority seems to place its location on the west
side of the Susquehanna River, in York County, Pennsylvania,
opposite Washington Borough.
32 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
The Iroquois, the mortal enemies of the Susquehannas, at-
tacked them at one of their principal towns, in either York or
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1663, sending down the Sus-
quehanna River, in April of that year, an expedition of eight
hundred Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas. On their arrival,
they found the town defended on one side by the river and on the
other by tree trunks; it was fianked by two bastions, constructed
after the European method, and had also several pieces of artillery.
The Iroquois decided not to make an assault, but to attempt to
outwit the Susquehannas by a ruse. Twenty-five Iroquois were
admitted into the fort, but these were seized, placed on high
scafTolds, and burned to death in sight of their comrades. The
humiliated Iroquois now returned to their home in New York.
After this defeat of the Iroquois, the war was carried on by
small parties, and now and then a Susquehanna was captured
and carried to the villages of the Iroquois, and tortured to death.
In 1669, the Susquehannas defeated the Cayugas, and offered
peace; but their ambassador was put to death, and the war went
on. At this time, the Susquehannas had a great chief named
Hochitqgete, or Barefoot; and the medicine men of the Iroquois
assured the warriors of the confederacy that, if they would make
another attack on the Susquehannas, their efforts would be re-
warded by the capture of Barefoot and his execution at the stake.
So, in the summer of 1672, a band of forty Cayugas descended
the Susquehanna in canoes, and twenty Senecas marched over-
land to attack the enemy in the fields; but a band of sixty Sus-
quehanna boys, none over sixteen, routed the Senecas, killing one
and capturing another. The band of youthful warriors then
pressed on against the Cayugas, and defeated them, killing eight
and wounding fifteen or sixteen more, but losing half of their own
gallant band. At this time, it is said, the Susquehannas were
so reduced by war and pestilence that their fighting force con-
sisted of only three hundred warriors.
Finally, in 1675, according to the Jesuit Relation and Colden
in his "History of the Five Nations", the Susquehannas fell be-
fore the arms of the Iroquois; but the details of the defeat are
sadly lacking. It seems that the Iroquois, about this time, had
driven them down upon the tribes of the South who were then
allies of the English, and that this involved them in war with
Maryland and Virginia. Finding themselves surrounded by
enemies on all sides, a portion of the Susquehannas left the land
of their forefathers and the beautiful river bearing their name.
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 33
and took up their abode in the western part of Maryland, near
the Piscataways.
In the summer of 1675, a white man was murdered by some
Indians, most probably Senecas, on the Virginia side of the
Potomac; whereupon, a party of Virginia militia killed fourteen
of the Susquehannocks and Doeg Indians in retaliation. Shortly
afterwards several other whites were murdered on both sides of
the Potomac. The colony of Virginia then organized several
companies, led by Colonel John Washington, great-grandfather
of George Washington, to co-operate with a Maryland force of
two hundred and fifty troops, led by Major Thomas Truman.
The Susquehannocks claimed that they were entirely innocent of
any of these murders and sent four of their chiefs as an embassy
to Major Truman, who were knocked on the head by his soldiers.
This so enraged the Susquehannocks that a long border warfare
ensued which was kept up until they became lost to history.
Another portion of the Susquehannocks remained near their
old home at Conestoga, Lancaster County, where they were later
joined by a third portion which had been taken by the Iroquois to
the Oneida country in New York, and there retained until they
lost their language, when they were permitted to join their
brethren at Conestoga. Here William Penn and his son, William,
visited the Conestogas during his last stay in his province in 1701.
Here, also, the Conestogas lived until the descendants of this
remnant of a once powerful tribe were killed in December, 1763,
by a band of Scotch-Irish settlers from Donegal and Paxtang, —
the last melancholy chapter in the history of the Susquehannas,
or Conestogas. Conestoga, for generations the central seat of
this tribe in the lower Susquehanna region, was about four miles
southwest of Millersville, Lancaster County. A monument
marks the site of this historic Indian town. It was erected in
1924 by the Lancaster County Historical Society and the Penn-
sylvania Historical Commission.
The Delawares or Lenape
At the dawn of the historic period of Pennsylvania, we find
the basin of the Delaware River inhabited by an Indian tribe
called the Delawares, or Lenape. The English called them Dela-
wares from the fact that, upon their arrival in this region, they
found the council-fires of this tribe on the banks of the Delaware
River. The French called them Loups, "wolves", a term probably
34 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
first applied to the Mohicans, a kindred tribe, on the Hudson
River in New York. However, in their own language, they were
called Lenape, or Lenni-Lenape, meaning "real men", or "original
men."
The Lenape belonged to the great Algonquin family — by far
the greatest Indian family in North America, measured by the
extent of territory occupied. This family surrounded on all sides
the Iroquoian family, of which we shall hereafter speak, and
extended from Labrador westward through Canada to the Rocky
Mountains and southward to South Carolina. It also extended
westward through the Mississippi Valley to the RockyMountains.
The most important tribes of this family were the Mohican,
Massachuset, Miami, Sac and Fox, Ojibwa, Blackfoot, Illinois,
Shawnee, and Lenape; and among the great personages of the
Algonquins were King Philip, Pocahontas, Pontiac, Tecumseh,
and Tamenend, the last of whom made the historic treaty with
William Penn described in Chapter III.
Traditional History of the Lenape
The early traditional history of the Lenape is contained in
their national legend, the Walum Olum. According to this sacred
tribal history, the Lenape, in long ages past, lived in the vast
region west of the Mississippi. For some reason not known, they
left their western home, and, after many years of wandering east-
ward, reached the Namaesi Sipu, or Mississippi, where they fell
in with the Mengwe, or Iroquois, who had likewise emigrated
from the distant West in search of a new home, and had arrived
at this river at a point somewhat higher up. The spies sent for-
ward by the Lenape for the purpose of reconnoitering, had dis-
covered, before the arrival of the main body, that the region east
of the Mississippi was inhabited by a powerful nation called the
Talligewi, or Alligewi, whose domain reached eastward to the
Allegheny Mountains, which together with the beautiful Alle-
gheny River, are named for this ancient race. The Alligewi had
many large towns on the rivers of the Mississippi and Ohio
valleys, and had built innumerable mounds, fortifications and
intrenchments, hundreds of which still remain, and are called the
works of the "Mound Builders". Says Schoolcraft: "The banks
of the Allegheny were, in ancient times, occupied by an important
tribe, now unknown, who preceded the Delawares and Iroquois.
They were called Alleghans (Alligewi) by Colden." It is related
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 35
that the Alligewi were tall and stout, and that there were giants
among them.
When the Lenape arrived at the Mississippi, they sent a mes-
sage to the Alligewi requesting that they be permitted to settle
among them. This request was refused, but the Lenape obtained
permission to pass through the territory of the Alligewi and seek
a settlement farther to the eastward. They accordingly began
to cross the Mississippi; but the Alligewi, seeing that their num-
bers were vastly greater than they had supposed, made a furious
attack upon those who had crossed, and threatened the whole
tribe with destruction, if they dared to persist in crossing to the
eastern side of the river.
Angered by the treachery of the Alligewi and not being pre-
pared for conflict, the Lenape consulted together as to whether
they should make a trial of strength, and were convinced that the
enemy were too powerful for them. Then the Mengwe, who had
hitherto been spectators from a distance, offered to join the
Lenape, on condition that, after conquering the Alligewi, they
should be entitled to share in the fruits of the conquest.
Having united their forces, the Lenape and the Mengwe de-
clared war against the Alligewi, and started on their onward
march eastward across the continent, gradually driving out the
Alligewi, who fled down the Mississippi Valley never to return.
This conquest lasted many years, during which the Lenape lost
great numbers of their best warriors, while the Mengwe would
always lag back in the rear leaving them to bear the brunt of
battle. At the end, the conquerors divided the possessions of the
defeated race; the Mengwe taking the country in the vicinity of
the Great Lakes and their tributary streams, and the Lenape tak-
ing the land to the south. There has been much conjecture as to
who the ancient Alligewi were, some historians believing them to
have been the "Mound Builders," but most modern authorities
believe them to have been identical with the Cherokees.
For a long period, possibly many centuries, according to the
Walum Olum, the Mengwe and Lenape resided peacefully in this
country, and increased rapidly in population. Some of their
hunters and warriors crossed the Allegheny Mountains, and, arriv-
ing at the streams flowing eastward, followed them to the Sus-
quehanna River, and this stream to the ocean. Other enterprising
pathfinders penetrated the wilderness to the Delaware River, and
exploring still eastward, arrived at the Hudson. Some of these
36 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
explorers returned to their nation and reported the discoveries
they had made, describing the country as abounding in game and
the streams as having an abundance of water-fowl and fish, with
no enemy to be dreaded.
The Lenape considered these discoveries as fortunate for them,
and believed the newly found region to be the country destined
for them by the Great Spirit as their permanent abode. Con-
sequently they began to migrate thither, settling on the four
great rivers, — the Susquehanna, the Potomac, the Delaware,
and the Hudson. The Walum Olum states, however, that not
all of the Lenape reached the eastern part of the United States,
many of them having remained behind to assist a great body of
their people who had not crossed the Mississippi, but had retreated
into the interior of the country on the other side, on being in-
formed of the treacherous attack of the Alligewi upon those who
had attempted to cross this stream. It is further stated that
another part of the Lenape remained near the eastern bank of
the Mississippi.
According to this traditional history, therefore, the Lenape
nation finally became divided into three separate bodies; the part
that had not crossed the Mississippi; the part that remained near
the eastern bank of the Mississippi ; and the part that settled on
the four great eastern rivers above named.
That branch of the Delawares which settled in the eastern part
of the country divided into three divisions, or clans, — the Munsee,
(later corrupted to Monsey), the Unami, and the Unalachitgo.
These were called the Wolf, the Turtle, and the Turkey clans re-
spectively, from their respective animal types of totems. With
these creatures which they had adopted as their symbols, they
believed themselves connected by a mystic and powerful tie.
The Munsee (Wolf Clan), at the dawn of the historic period,
were living in the mountain country, from about the mouth of the
Lehigh River northward into New York and New Jersey, em-
bracing the territory between the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains
and the sources of the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers. A
part of the tribe, also, dwelt on the Susquehanna, and still another
part had a village and peach orchard near Nazareth in North-
ampton County, in the triangle between the Delaware and Lehigh.
However, their chief village was Minisink, in Sussex County,
New Jersey. The Munsee were the most warlike of the Dela-
wares; they took a prominent part in the Indian wars of Colonial
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 37
Pennsylvania. Being defrauded out of their lands by the noto-
rious "Walking Purchase" of 1737, which obliged them to move,
first to the Susquehanna and then to the Ohio, they became the
bitter enemies of the white man, and drenched the frontier settle-
ments with the blood of the pioneers. The Munsee have fre-
quently been considered a separate tribe, inasmuch as they
diflFered greatly from the other clans of the Lenape, and spoke a
different dialect.
The Unami (Turtle Clan), "down river people," at the open-
ing of the historic period dwelt on both sides of the Delaware from
the mouth of the Lehigh to the line dividing the states of Pennsyl-
vania and Delaware. Their chief village was Shackamaxon,
which was probably the capital of the Lenape nation, and it stood
on about the site of Germantown, a suburb of Philadelphia. The
principal chief of the Unami was the "King" of the united Lenape
nation, by immemorial custom presiding at all the councils of
the tribe.
The Unalachtigo (Turkey Clan) "people living near the sea,"
at the opening of the historic period, occupied the land on the
lower reach of the Delaware River and Delaware Bay. Their
villages were on both sides of the river; and their chief village, or
capital of the clan, was Chikoki, on the site of Burlington, New
Jersey.
From these three clans, or tribes, comprising the great body of
the Delawares, have sprung many others, who, for their own
convenience, chose distant parts in which to settle. Among these
were the Mahicans, or Mohicans, who by intermarriage became
a detached body, and crossing the Hudson River, dwelt in eastern
New York and western Connecticut; and the Nanticokes, who
had proceeded to the South, and settled in Maryland and Virginia.
It is to be noted, too, that the Delawares, by reason of priority
of political rank and of occupying the central home territory from
which the kindred tribes had diverged, were assigned special dig-
nity and authority. It is said that forty tribes looked up to them
with respect, and that, in the great councils of the Algonquins,
they took first place as "grandfathers" of the race, while others
were called by them ' 'children , " ' 'grandchildren , ' ' and "nephews. ' '
It is not certain that this precedence of the Delawares had any
importance within the period of white settlement, but it no doubt
had in the far dim past. And it seems true that the Algonquin
tribes refrained from war with one another.
38 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
The Iroquois Form a Great Confederation
and Subjugate the Lenape
It will be remembered that, when the Lenape, or Delawares,
and the Mengwe, or Iroquois, divided the country of the Alligewi
between them, the Mengwe took the part in the vicinity of the
Great Lakes and their tributary streams, north of the part taken
by the Lenape. The Mengwe later proceeded farther and settled
below the Great Lakes and along the St. Lawrence River, so that
when the Lenape had moved to the eastern part of the United
States, the Mengwe became their northern neighbors. The
Mengwe now became jealous of the growing power of the Lenape,
and finally assumed dominion over them.
To the Moravian Missionary, Rev. John Heckewelder, who
had lived among the Delawares for more than thirty years, they
related how this dominion came about. The great chiefs of the
Delawares stated to Heckewelder that the Mengwe clandestinely
sought to start quarrels between the Lenape and distant tribes,
hoping thus to break the might of the Lenape. Each nation had
a particular mark on its war clubs, different from that of any
other nation. So the Mengwe, having stolen into the Cherokee
country and secretly murdered a Cherokee and left beside the
victim a war club, such as the Lenape used, the Cherokees natur-
ally concluded that the Lenape committed the murder, and fell
suddenly upon them, and a long and bloody war ensued between
the two nations. The treachery of the Mengwe having been at
length discovered, the Lenape resolved upon the extermination of
this deceitful tribe. War was declared against the Mengwe, and
carried on with vigor, when the Mengwe, finding that they were
no match for the powerful Lenape and their kindred tribes, re-
solved upon uniting their clans into a confederacy. Up until this
time, each tribe of the Mengwe had acted independently of the
others, and they had not been inclined to come under any supreme
authority. Accordingly, about the year 1570, the Mengwe formed
the great confederacy of their five kindred tribes, the Mohawks,
the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas, known
as the Five (later Six) Nations.
Thus the Delawares claimed that the Iroquois Confederacy
was formed for the purpose of preventing the extermination of
the Mengwe by the Lenape. Other authorities say that the pur-
pose was to end inter-tribal feud and war among the Mengwe,
themselves; to enable the allied tribes to make mutual offense and
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 39
defense, and to advance their general welfare. Thannawage, it is
claimed, was the aged Mohawk chief who first proposed the
alliance. Other authorities say that Dekanawida, the Iroquois
statesman, prophet and law giver, planned and formed the historic
confederation; and that he was assisted in this work by his
disciple and co-adjutor, Hiawatha, whose name has been im-
mortalized by the poet, Longfellow, in his charming poem. It is
to be noted, however, that, while in "Hiawatha", Longfellow
gave the English language one of its finest poems ; yet, due to his
adopting the error of Schoolcraft in applying to Hiawatha the
myths and legends relating to the Chippewa deity, Manabozho,
this poem does not contain a single fact or fiction relating to the
great chieftain of the Iroquois.
The following chiefs, also, assisted in forming the confederacy:
Toganawita, representing the Onondagas; Togahayon, represent-
ing the Cayugas; and Ganiatario and Satagaruyes, representing
the Senecas. This confederacy is known in history as the Five
Nations, until the Tuscaroras, a tribe having been expelled from
North Carolina and Virginia in 1712 or 1713, and having sought
an asylum among the Iroquois of Pennsylvania and New York,
were formally admitted to the alliance in 1722, after which time
the confederacy is known as the Six Nations. The French gave
the Indians of the confederacy the name of Iroquois, while the
Delawares continued to call them Mengwe, later corrupted to
Mingo. The Mohicans and the Dutch called them Maquas, while
Powhatan called them Massawomekes.
But, to resume the story which the Delawares told Hecke-
welder. They said that, after the forming of the confederacy,
very bloody wars were carried on between the Iroquois and them-
selves in which they were generally successful, and while these
wars were in progress, the French landed in Canada and com-
bined against the Iroquois, inasmuch as the Five Nations were
not willing that these Europeans should establish themselves in
that country. At last the Mengwe, or Iroquois, seeing them-
selves between two fires, and not seeing any prospect of conquer-
ing the Lenape by arms, resorted to a stratagem to secure do-
minion over them.
The plan was to persuade the Lenape to abstain from the use
of arms, and to assume the station of mediators and umpires
among their warlike neighbors. In the language of the Indians,
the Lenape were to be made "women." As explaining the signifi-
cance of this expression, the Delawares said that wars among the
40 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Indians in those days were never brought to an end, but by the
interference of the weaker sex. It was not considered becoming
for a warrior to ask for peace. He must fight to the end. "With
these dispositions, war would never have ceased among Indians,
until the extermination of one or the other party, if the tender and
compassionate sex had not come forward, and by their moving
speeches, persuaded the enraged combatants to bury their
hatchets, and make peace. On these occasions they were very
eloquent . . . They would describe the sorrows of widowed
wives, and, above all, of bereaved mothers. The pangs of child-
birth, they had willingly suffered. They had carefully reared
their sons to manhood. Then how cruel it was to see these
promising youths fall victims to the rage of war, — to see them
slaughtered on the field, or burned at the stake. The thought of
such scenes made them curse their own existence and shudder
at the thought of bearing children." Speeches like these generally
had the desired effect, and the women, by the honorable function
of peace-makers, held a very dignified position. Therefore, it
would be a magnanimous and honorable act for a powerful nation
like the Lenape to assume that station by which they would be
the means of saving the Indian race from extinction.
Such, according to Heckewelder, were the arguments used by
the artful Iroquois to ensnare the Lenape. Unfortunately the
Delawares listened to the voice of their enemies, and consented
to become the "woman nation" among the Indians. With elab-
orate ceremonies, they were installed in their new function.
Eloquent speeches were made, accompanied with belts of wam-
pum. The place of the ceremony of "taking the hatchet out of
the hand of the Lenape" and of placing them in the situation of
"the woman" was at Nordman's Kill, about four miles south of
Albany, New York. The year of the alleged occurrence is un-
known, but it is said to have been somewhere between 1609 and
1620. Both the Delawares and the Mohicans told Heckewelder
that the Dutch were present at this ceremony and had no incon-
siderable part in the intrigue, the Mohicans explaining that it
was fear that caused the Dutch of New York to conspire with the
Mengwe against the Lenape. It appears that, at the place where
the Dutch were then making their settlement, great bodies of
warriors would pass and repass, interrupting their undertakings;
so that they thought it well to have an alliance with the Iroquois.
Furthermore, the Delawares told Heckewelder that, when the
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 41
English took New York from the Dutch, they stepped into the
same alHance with the Iroquois that their predecessors had made.
The Iroquois denied that such an intrigue as related above ever
took place. They alleged, on the other hand, that they had
conquered the Lenape in battle and had thus compelled them to
become "women,"— to submit to the greatest humiliation a
spirited and warlike nation can suffer. Many historians believe
that the Delawares imposed upon the venerable Rev. Hecke-
welder by inventing a cunning tale in explanation of the humilia-
tion under which they were smarting. Also, President William
Henry Harrison, in his "Aborigines of the Ohio Valley", gives the
story of the Delawares little credence. He says that the Dela-
wares were too sagacious a race to fall into such a snare as they
allege the Iroquois laid for them. Rev. Heckewelder, the staunch
friend of the Delawares, calls attention to the fact that, while the
Iroquois claim they conquered the Delawares by force of arms
and not by stratagem, yet the Iroquois have no tradition among
them of the particulars of the conquest.
So much for the story which the Delawares told Heckewelder.
Many authorities state, however, that the time of the subjugation
of the Delawares was much later than the date given Heckewelder.
Some have stated that the Delawares were not made tributaries
of the Iroquois until after the coming of William Penn; but the
celebrated Delaware chief, King Beaver, told Conrad Weiser at
Aughwick on September 4, 1754, that the subjugation took place
before Penn's arrival. It has been contended that, when the
Iroquois finally conquered the Susquehannas, in 1675, the
Delawares were allies of the Susquehannas, and that therefore
the overcoming of the Susquehannas included the subjugation of
the Delawares. At the first extended conference between the
Pennsylvania Authorities and the Indians, of which a record has
been preserved, held at Philadelphia on July 6, 1694, the Dela-
ware chief, Hithquoquean, or Idquoquequoan, advised the
Colonial Authorities that he and his associate chiefs had shortly
before this time received a message from the Onondagas and
Senecas containing the following statement: "You Delaware
Indians do nothing but stay at home and boil your pots, and are
like women ; while we Onondagas and Senecas go ahead and fight
the enemy." We, therefore, conclude that it cannot be stated
with exactness, just when the subjugation of the Delawares took
place; and, inasmuch as there is no record of any conquest after
42 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the time of Penn's arrival, it may be that the subjugation took
place through fear and intimidation rather than by war.
Whatever may be the facts as to how the Iroquois reduced the
Delawares to a state of vassalage — whether by artifice, intimida-
tion, or warfare — the fact remains that about the year 1720, this
powerful northern confederacy assumed active dominion over
them, forbidding them to make war or sales of lands, — a condition
that existed until the time of the French and Indian War. During
the summer of 1755, the Delawares declared that they were no
longer subjects of the Six Nations, and, at Tioga, in the year 1756,
their great chieftain, Teedyuscung, extorted from the chiefs of
the Iroquois an acknowledgment of Delaware independence.
However, from time to time, after 1756, the Iroquois persisted in
claiming the Delawares were their vassals, until shortly before
the treaty of Greenville, Darke County, Ohio, in August, 1795,
when they formally declared the Delaware nation to be no
longer "women," but MEN.
Westward Migration of the Delawares
As early as 1724, Delawares of the Turtle and Turkey clans
began, by permission of the Six Nations, to migrate from the
region near the Forks of the Susquehanna to the valleys of the
Allegheny and Ohio, coming chiefly from the country to the east
and southeast of Shamokin (Sunbury). They proceeded up the
east side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna as far as Lock
Haven, where they crossed this stream, and ascended the valley
of Bald Eagle Creek to a point near where Milesburg, Center
County, now stands. From there, they went in a westerly direc-
tion along Marsh Creek, over or near Indian Grave Hill, near
Snowshoe and Moshanon, Center County, crossing Moshanon
Creek; and from there through Morris, Graham, Bradford, and
Lawrence Townships, Clearfield County, reaching the West
Branch of the Susquehanna again at Chinklacamoose on the
site of the present town of Clearfield, Clearfield County. From
this point, they ascended the West Branch of the Susquehanna
for a few miles; thence up Anderson's Creek, crossing the divide
between this stream and the Mahoning, in Brady Township,
Clearfield County; thence down the Mahoning Valley through
Punxsutawney, Jefferson County, to a point on the Allegheny
River, about ten miles below the mouth of the Mahoning, where
they built their first town in the course of their westward migra-
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 43
tion, which they called Kittanning, — a town famous in the Indian
annals of Pennsylvania. Other Delaware towns were soon
established in the Allegheny Valley and other places in the western
part of the state to which the migration continued until the out-
break of the French and Indian War. The "Walking Purchase"
of 1737 caused the westward migration of the Delawares of the
Wolf clan. Thus it is seen that the Delawares retraced their steps
across Pennsylvania. By the outbreak of the Revolutionary
War, nearly all the Delawares had been pressed westward into
Ohio.
Domain of the Iroquois
When the historic period of Pennsylvania begins, we find the
domain of the Five Nations extending from the borders of Ver-
mont to Lake Erie, and from Lake Ontario to the headwaters of
the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Allegheny. This territory they
called their "long house." The Senecas, who lived on the head-
waters of the Allegheny, and many of whose settlements were
in Pennsylvania, guarded the western door of the house, the
Mohawks, the eastern, and the Cayugas, the southern, or that
which opened on the Susquehanna.
The principal village and capital of these "Romans of Ameri-
ca," as DeWitt Clinton called them, was called Onondaga, later
Onondaga Castle, and was situated from before 1654 to 1681, on
Indian Hill, in the present town of Pompey, near Onondaga Lake,
in central New York. In 1677 it contained 140 cabins. After-
ward it was removed to Butternut Creek, where the castle was
burned in 1696, in the war between the Five Nations and the
French. In 1 720, it was again removed to Onondaga Creek, a few
miles south of Lake Onondaga.
The Smithsonian Institution, in its "Handbook of American
Indians," says the following of the Iroquois: "Around the Great
Council Fire of the League of the Iroquois at Onondaga, with
punctilious observance of the parliamentary proprieties recog-
nized in Indian diplomacy and statescraft, and with a decorum
that would add grace to many legislative assemblies of the white
man, the federal senators of the Iroquois tribes devised plans,
formulated policies, and defined principles of government and
political action, which not only strengthened their state and
promoted their common welfare, but also deeply affected the
contemporary history of the whites in North America. To this
body of half-clad federal chieftains were repeatedly made over-
44 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
tures of peace and friendship by two of the most powerful king-
doms of Europe, whose statesmen often awaited with apprehen-
sion the decisions of this senate of North American Savages." And
Colden in his "History of the Five Nations," says: "The Five
Nations are a poor and, generally called barbarious people; and
yet a bright and noble genius shines through these black clouds.
None of the greatest Roman heroes discovered a greater love to
their country, or a greater contempt of death, than these people
called barbarians have done, when liberty came in competition
. . . They carried their arms as far southward as Carolina, to
the northward of New England, and as far west as the River
Mississippi, over a vast country, which extends twelve hundred
miles in length, and about six hundred miles in breadth; where
they entirely destroyed many nations, of whom there are now no
accounts remaining among the English . , . Their great men,
both Sachems and Captains, are generally poorer than the com-
mon people; for they affect to give away and distribute all the
presents and plunder they get in their treaties or in war, so as to
leave nothing to themselves . . . There is not the least salary or
any sort of profit annexed to any office, to tempt the covetous or
sordid; but, on the contrary, every unworthy action is unavoid-
ably attended with the forfeiture of their commission; for their
authority is only the esteem of the people, and ceases the moment
that esteem is lost."
Says Governor DeWitt Clinton in his discourse on the Iroquois:
"All their proceedings were conducted with great deliberation,
and were distinguished for order, decorum and solemnity. In
eloquence, in dignity, and in all the characteristics of profound
policy, they surpassed an assembly of feudal barons, and were
perhaps not far inferior to the great Amphyctionic Council of
Greece."
So great was the scourge of the Iroquois that, during the clos-
ing decades of the seventeenth century and the first two decades
of the eighteenth century, the region south of Lake Erie on both
sides of the upper Ohio and Allegheny contained practically no
Indian population; and the Iroquois looked upon this vast terri-
tory as their great hunting ground.
(Speaking of the warfare of the Iroquois, DeWitt Clinton said:
"They reduced war to a science, and all their movements were
directed by system and policy. They never attacked a hostile
country until they had sent out spies to explore and designate its
vulnerable points, and when they encamped, they observed the
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 45
greatest circumspection to guard against spies. Whatever supe-
riority of force they might have, they never neglected the use of
stratagem, employing all the crafty wiles of the Carthagenians."
The Iroquois commenced their conquests of all the tribes to the
south and west of them, soon after these "Romans of America"
acquired firearms from the Dutch on the Hudson River. Tribes
that were not utterly destroyed or absorbed by them, were held
in subjugation and ruled by Iroquois deputies or vice-gerents.
The greatest of these vice-gerents was the renowned Shikellamy,
who, in 1727 or 1728, was sent by the Great Council at Onondaga
to rule over the Delawares, Shawnees and other tribes in the
valley of the Susquehanna, taking up his residence first near
Milton and later at Shamokin (Sunbury), Pennsylvania. Two
other vice-gerents sent by the Iroquois to rule over subjugated
tribes in Pennsylvania were Tanacharison, the Half King, and
Scarouady, his successor. The former ruled over the Delawares
and Mohicans of the Ohio Valley, with his residence at Logstown,
on the north bank of the Ohio, about eighteen miles below Pitts-
burgh ; and the latter ruled over the Shawnees of the Ohio Valley,
with his residence also at Logstown. Tanacharison and Scarou-
ady took up their duties as vice-regents in the year 1747. As we
shall see, the Iroquois Confederation played an important part
in the Indian history of Pennsylvania.
The Shawnees
The Shawnees, too, occupied parts of Pennsylvania during
the historic period. The name means "Southerners." They were
a branch of the Algonquin family, and are believed to have lived
in the Ohio Valley in remote ages, and to have built many of the
mounds and earthworks found there. Some have attempted to
identify them with the Eries of the early Jesuits, the Massawo-
mecks of Smith, and the Andaste, but without success. The tra-
ditional history of the Lenape, the Walum Olum, connects them,
the Lenape, and Nanticokes as one people, the separation having
taken place after the Alligewi, (Cherokees) were driven from the
Ohio Valley by the Lenape and the Mengwe (Iroquois) on their
onward march eastward across the continent. Then the Shaw-
nees went south. Their real history begins in 1669-70, when they
were living in two bodies a great distance apart, — one body being
in South Carolina and the other in the Cumberland basin in Ten-
nessee. Between these two bodies were the then friendly Chero-
46 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
kees, who claimed the land vacated by the Shawnees when the
latter subsequently migrated to the North. The Shawnees living
in South Carolina were called Savannahs by the early settlers.
As we shall see, later in this chapter, the Iroquois destroyed the
Eries about 1655 or 1656. Shortly thereafter, these northern
conquerors began a conquest of the Shawnees, which, according
to Charlevoix, they completed in 1672.
On account, probably, of dissatisfaction with the early settlers,
the Shawnees of South Carolina began a general movement to the
north in 1690, and continued it at intervals for thirty years. The
first reference to this tribe to be found in the Provincial records of
Pennsylvania is probably a deposition made before the Provincial
Council, December 19, 1693, by Polycarpus Rose. In this deposi-
tion there is a reference to "strange Indians" called "Shallna-
rooners." These strange Indians appear to have made a tempo-
rary stop in Chester County in migrating possibly from Maryland
to the Forks of the Delaware or to Pequea Creek. Many authori-
ties believe these "strange Indians" mentioned in the affidavit of
Polycarpus Rose to have been Shawnees. This is conjecture.
But, leaving the realm of conjecture and entering the realm
of historical truth, we find that the first Shawnees to enter Penn-
sylvania were a party who settled on the Delaware at Pecho-
quealin near the Water Gap, in the summer of 1694, or shortly
thereafter. These came from the Shawnee villages on the lower
Ohio. Arnold Viele, a Dutch trader, from Albany, New York,
spent the winter of 1692-1693 with the Shawnees on the lower
Ohio, returning in the summer of 1694, and bringing with him a
number of this tribe who settled at Pechoquealin. Pechoquealin
was a regional name whose center seems to have been the mouth
of Shawnee Run in Lower Smithfield Township, Monroe County,
and which included the surrounding territory on both sides of
the Delaware, above the Delaware Water Gap. Viele was
probably the first white man to explore the region between the
valleys of the Susquehanna and the Ohio.
About four years later, or in 1697 or 1698, about seventy
families of Shawnees came from Cecil County, Maryland, and
settled on the Susquehanna River, near the Conestoga Indians,
in Lancaster County. Probably at about the same time others
migrated to the Ohio Valley. At the mouth of Pequea Creek,
Lancaster County, the seventy families come from Maryland,
built their village, also called Pequea. Their chief was Wapatha,
or Opessah. They secured permission from the Colonial Govern-
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 47
ment to reside near the Conestogas, and the latter became security
for their good behavior, under the authority of the Iroquois Con-
federation. By invitation of the Delawares, a party of seven
hundred Shawnees came soon after and settled with the Munsee
Clan on the Delaware River, the main body taking up their abode
at the mouth of the Lehigh, near Easton, while others went as far
south as the mouth of the Schuylkill. Those who had settled on
the Delaware afterwards removed to the Wyoming Valley near
the present town of Plymouth, Luzerne County, on a broad plain
still called Shawnee Flats. This band under Kakowatcheky re-
moved from Pechoquealin to the Wyoming Valley in 1728; and it
is probable that they were joined there by those who had settled
at Pequea, which was abandoned about 1730.
The Shawnees also had a village on the flats at the mouth of
Fishing Creek, near Bloomsburg, and another at Catawissa, —
both being in Columbia County. They had other villages in the
eastern part of the state on the Swatara, Paxtang, Susquehanna,
and Delaware. Several villages were scattered along the west side
of the Susquehanna, between the mouth of Yellow Breeches Creek
and the Conodoguinet, in Cumberland County. Another of their
villages, called Chenastry, was at the mouth of Chillisquaque
Creek on the east side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna,
in Northumberland County.
The Shawnees from Tennessee migrated to the Ohio Valley,
finally collecting along the north bank of the Ohio in Penn-
sylvania as far as the mouth of the Monongahela, about the year
1730. Sauconk and Logstown were villages on the Ohio which
they established possibly as early as that time. The former was
at the mouth of the Beaver, and the latter on the north bank of
the Ohio, about eighteen miles below Pittsburgh.
Another clan of Shawnees, called the Sewickleys, Asswikales,
Shaweygila, and Hathawekela, came from South Carolina prior
to 1730 by way of Old Town, Maryland and Bedford, Pa., and
settled in different parts of Southwestern Pennsylvania. Their
principal village called Sewickley Town was at the junction of
this creek and the Youghiogheny River, in Westmoreland County.
They were probably the first Shawnees to settle in Western
Pennsylvania.
The Shawnees of the eastern part of Pennsylvania eventually
went to the Ohio and Allegheny Valleys. In the report of the
Albany congress of 1754, it is found that some of the tribe had
moved from the eastern part of the state to the Ohio about thirty
48 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
years previously; and, in 1734, another Shawnee band consisting
of about forty famiUes and described as living on the Allegheny,
refused to return to the Susquehanna at the solicitation of the
Delawares and Iroquois. During their westward migration, they
established villages on the Juniata and Conemaugh. About the
year 1755 or 1756, practically all the Shawnees abandoned the
Susquehanna and other parts of eastern Pennsylvania, and joined
their brethren on the Ohio, where they became allies of the French
in the French and Indian War. By the outbreak of the Rev-
olutionary War, nearly all the Shawnees had been pressed west-
ward into Ohio.
There is something mysterious in the wanderings of the Shaw-
nees. As we have seen, their home, in remote times, was in the
Ohio Valley; then we later hear of them in the South; and still
later they came to Pennsylvania. There is good evidence, how-
ever, tending to show that that body of the Shawnees which
entered Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1697 or 1698, came
originally from as far west as the region of Fort St. Louis, near
the town of Utica, LaSalle County, Illinois, leaving that place in
1683 and being accompanied in their wanderings to Maryland by
Martin Chartier, a French Canadian, who had spent some eight
or nine years among them. At any rate, this band reached Mary-
land near the mouth of the Susquehanna in 1692, and such is the
story they told. They gradually moved up the Susquehanna to
Lancaster County, as we have seen, where Chartier became a
trader at their village of Pequea, on the east side of the Susque-
hanna near the mouth of Pequea Creek, and only a few miles
from Conestoga, which was on the north side of Conestoga Creek.
The Shawnees who settled at Paxtang, on or near the site of
Harrisburg, most likely came from Pequea.* Before 1727, many
of this tribe from Paxtang and Pequea had settled on the west
side of the Susquehanna River at what is now New Cumberland,
near the mouth of Yellow Breeches Creek and as far north as the
mouth of the Conodoquinet. These dwellers on the west side of
the Susquehanna, about the year 1727, crossed the mountains to
the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny. Some, however, had gone
to Big Island (Lock Haven) before going to the Ohio region.
Opessah, the chief of the Shawnees on the lower Susquehanna,
did not remove to the Ohio or Allegheny Valley. He remained at
Pequea until 1711, when he abandoned both his chieftainship and
his tribe, and sought a home among the Delawares of Sassoonan's
clan. It is not clear why he abandoned his people. There is a
♦There were never many Shawnees at Paxtang, their larger settlements in this region being
on the west side of the Susquehanna.
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 49
traditionary account that he left because he became enamoured
of a Delaware squaw, who refused to leave her own people. Later,
in 1722, he removed to what was called Opessah's town on the
Potomac, now Old Town, Maryland.
Neither the Pennsylvania Archives nor the Colonial Records
show the name of the chief of those Shawnees who settled at
Pechoquealin until 1728, when their head man was Kakowatchey.
Some of Kakowatchey's clan removed directly to the Ohio before
1732, but a majority seem to have gone only as far as the Wyom-
ing Valley in Luzerne County, where, as we have seen, they took
up their abode on the west side of the North Branch of the Sus-
quehanna at a place subsequently known as Shawnee Flats, just
below the site of the present town of Plymouth. Their town at
this place was called Skehandowana (Iroquois for "Great Flats"),
and it remained a town of considerable importance until 1743.
Some time after April of that year, Kakowatchey himself, with
a number of his followers removed from Skehandowana and
settled at Logstown on the Ohio.
After Kakowatchey left Wyoming, Paxinosa became chief of
the Shawnees who still remained at that place. He said that he
was born "at Ohio", and possibly he was one of the company cf
Shawnees who accompanied Arnold Viele to the Pechoquealin
territory.
A number of the Shawnees at Chenastry, on the West Branch
of the Susquehanna, near the mouth of Chillisquaque Creek, ^ye^t
to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny prior to the autumn Cff
1727 to hunt, and no doubt some of them made their permaner.t
homes or took up their abode in this western region, during or
prior to the summer of 1727. - -.
But sorne of the Shawnees went directly from Maryland to the
Ohio and Allegheny, Two chiefs of the Potomac Shawn2&s,
Opaketchwa and Opakeita, by name, came from the Ohio Valley
to Philadelphia in September, 1732, after they had abandoned
their town on the north branch of the Potomac. Governor Gordon
asked them why they had gone "so far back into the woods as
Allegheny," and they replied that "formerly they had lived at
'Patawmack' [Potomac], where their king died; that, having Iqst
him, they knew not what to do; that they then took their wives
and children and went over the mountains (to Allegheny) to
live."
In concluding this sketch of the Shawnees, we state that one
of their reasons for migrating from Eastern Pennsylvania to the
so THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Ohio Valley was to escape the ruinous effects of the rum traffic.
The Colony of Pennsylvania made many attempts to persuade
them to return to their eastern homes, fearing that they would
yield to French influence if they remained in the valleys of the
Ohio and Allegheny. The powerful Iroquois were asked to join
in the attempt to persuade them to return. The Iroquois, at the
Treaty of 1732, promised the Pennsylvania Authorities to use
their influence with the Shawnees, and kept their promise. But
all efforts to persuade them to return nearer the eastern settle-
ments of the Colony were without avail.
The Tuscaroras
Another Indian tribe inhabiting portions of Pennsylvania
within the historic period was the Tuscaroras. They were of the
Iroquoian linguistic group. It will be recalled that this tribe,
after being expelled from North Carolina and Virginia, sought
an asylum with the Five Nations, and was later, in 1722, admitted
formally as an addition to the Iroquois Confederacy, making the
Six Nations. The Tuscaroras had suffered greatly in wars with
the people of North Carolina and Virginia, before they were ex-
pelled in 1712. Their women were debauched by the whites, and
both men and women were kidnapped and sold into slavery.
'Some were brought as far north as Pennsylvania, and sold as
^ slaves.
. '.' "Surveyor-General Lawson, of North Carolina, who, in Septem-
. bar, 1711, was captured and executed by the Tuscaroras, says
"tli'e following of these Indians:
-"They have really been better to us [the people of North Caro-
lina] than we have been to them, as they always freely give us of
their victuals at their quarters, while we let them walk by our
doors hungry, and do not often relieve them. We look upon them
with disdain and scorn, and think them little better than beasts
in. human form; while, with all our religion and education, we
pos'sess more moral deformities and vices than these people do."
' ^'Moreover, the colonists of North Carolina, like the Puritans of
N'ew England, did not recognize in the Indian any right to the
goil r and so the lands of the Tuscaroras were appropriated with-
out any thought of purchase. They had suffered these and similar
wrongs for many years, and, as early as 1710, sent a petition to
the Government of Pennsylvania reciting their wrongs and
stating that they desired to remove to a more just and friendly
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 51
government. Governor Charles Gookin and the Provincial
Council of Pennsylvania dispatched two commissioners to meet
the embassy which brought the petition, at Conestoga, Lancaster
County, on June 8, 1710, where they found not only the Tus-
carora embassy, but Civility and four other Conestoga chiefs,
as well as Opessah, head chief of the Shawnees.
The names of the Tuscarora ambassadors were: Iwaagenst,
Terrutawanaren and Teonnotein. The account of their meeting
with the Pennsylvania commissioners is contained in Pa. Ar-
chives, Vol. 2, pages 511 and 512.
In the presence of the Pennsylvania officials, the Tuscarora
ambassadors delivered their proposals, which were attested by
eight belts of wampum. This petition was a very lucid and
condensed statement of the wrongs suffered by the Tuscaroras
in their southern home.
By the first belt, the aged women and mothers of the tribe be-
sought the friendship of the Christian people and the Indians and
Government of Pennsylvania, so that they might bring wood and
water without danger. By the second, the children, born and
unborn, implored that they might be permitted to play without
danger of slavery. By the third, the young men sought the
privilege of leaving their towns to pursue the game in the forest
for the sustenance of the aged, without fear of death or slavery.
By the fourth, the old men sought the privilege of spending their
declining days in peace. By the fifth, the entire Tuscarora nation
sought a firm and lasting peace with all the blessings attached
thereto. By the sixth, the chiefs and sachems sought the estab-
lishment of lasting peace with the Government and Indians of
Pennsylvania, so that they would be relieved from "those fearful
apprehensions which they have these several years felt." By
the seventh, the Tuscaroras implored a "cessation from murder-
ing and taking them," so that they might not be in terror upon
every rustling of the leaves of the forest by the winds. By the
eighth, the entire Tuscarora tribe, being hitherto strangers to
the colony of Pennsylvania, implored that the sons of "Brother
Onas" might take them by the hand and lead them, so that they
might lift up their heads in the wilderness without fear of slavery
or death.
This petition, it is seen, was couched in the metaphorical lan-
guage of the Indian; but its plain meaning proves it to be a state-
ment of a tribe at bay, who, on account of the large numbers of
their people killed, kidnapped, or sold into slavery by the settlers
52 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
of North Carolina, were endeavoring to defend their offspring,
friends, and kindred, and were seeking a more friendly dwelling
place in the North, within the domain of the just government of
Penn, the apostle.
The Provincial Council of Pennsylvania advised the Tusca-
rora ambassadors that, before they could consent to the Tusca-
roras taking up their abode within the bounds of Penn's Province,
they should first be required to produce a certificate from the
colonial authorities of North Carolina as to their good behavior
in that colony. This, of course, the Tuscaroras were unable to do.
Then, the Conestoga chiefs, by the advice of their council,
determined to send the wampum belts, or petition, of the Tusca-
roras to the Five Nations of New York. This was done, and it
was the reception of these belts, setting forth the pitiful message
of the Tuscaroras, that moved the Five Nations to take steps to
shield and protect the Tuscaroras, and eventually receive them,
in 1722, as an additional member of the Iroquois Confederation.
In their migration northward, the Tuscaroras did not all leave
their ancient southern homes at once. Some sought an asylum
among other southern tribes, and lost their identity. However,
the major portion came north, and many of them resided for a
number of years in Pennsylvania, before going to New York, the
seat of the Five Nations. In fact, the Tuscaroras were ninety
years in making their exodus from their North Carolina home to
more friendly dwelling places in the North.
One body of the Tuscaroras, on their way north, tarried in the
Juniata Valley in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, for many years,
giving their name to the Tuscarora Mountain. There is evidence
of their having been there as late as 1755. Another band settled
about two miles west of Tamaqua, in Schuylkill County, where
they planted an orchard and lived for a number of years. Also,
in May, 1766, a band of Tuscaroras halted at the Moravian
mission at Friedenshuetten, on the Susquehanna in Bradford
County, and remained there several weeks. Some remained at
the mission, and these had planted their crops in 1766, at the
mouth of Tuscarora Creek, Wyoming County.
In a word, the residence places of the Tuscaroras in Pennsyl-
vania during their migration to New York, were those localities
where their name has been preserved ever since, such as: Tusca-
rora Mountain dividing Franklin and Perry Counties from Hunt-
ingdon and Juniata; Tuscarora Path Valley (now Path Valley) in
the western part of Franklin County at the eastern base of Tusca-
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 53
rora Mountain ; Tuscarora Creek running through the valley be-
tween Tuscarora and Shade mountains, which valley forms the
greater part of Juniata County; and also the stream called Tusca-
rora Creek running down through the southeastern part of Brad-
ford County and joining the North Branch of the Susquehanna
in the northwestern part of Wyoming County. The Tuscarora
Path marks the route followed by the Tuscaroras during their
migration to New York and of their subsequent journeyings to
and fro between New York and Pennsylvania on the north and
Virginia and North Carolina on the south.
The Conoy, Ganawese or Piscataway
The Conoy, also called the Ganawese and the Piscataway, in-
habited parts of Pennsylvania during the historic period. They
were an Algonquin tribe, closely related to the Delawares, whom
they called "grandfathers," and from whose ancestral stem they
no doubt sprang. Heckewelder, an authority on the history of the
Delawares and kindred tribes, believed them to be identical with
the Kanawha, for whom the chief river of West Virginia is named ;
and it seems that the names, Conoy and Ganawese, are simply
different forms of the name Kanawha, though it is difficult to
explain the application of the same name to the Piscataway tribe
of Maryland, except on the theory that this tribe once lived on
the Kanawha.
As stated formerly, the Conestogas, when defeated by the
Iroquois in 1675, invaded the territory of the Piscataways in
western Maryland. This, it is believed, caused the northward
migration of the Piscataways. At any rate, they shortly there-
after retired slowly up the Potomac, some entering Pennsylvania
about 1698 or 1699, and the rest a few years later. The Iroquois
assigned them lands at Conejoholo, also called Connejaghera
and Dekanoagah, on the east side of the Susquehanna at the
present town of Washington Borough, Lancaster County. Later
they removed higher up the Susquehanna to what was called
Conoy Town, at the mouth of Conoy Creek, in Lancaster County.
Still later they gradually made their way up the Susquehanna,
stopping at Harrisburg, Shamokin (Sunbury), Catawissa, and
Wyoming; and in 1765, were living in southern New York. After
their arrival in Pennsylvania, they were generally called Conoy.
During their residence in Pennsylvania, their villages, especially
those on the lower Susquehanna, were stopping places for war
54 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
parties of the Iroquois on their way to and return from attacks
upon the Catawbas in the South ; and this fact made considerable
trouble for the Colonial Authorities as well as the Conoy.
The Nanticokes
The Nanticokes, also, dwelt within the bounds of Pennsyl-
vania during the historic period. These were an Algonquin tribe,
formerly living on the Nanticoke River on the eastern shore of
Maryland, where Captain John Smith, in 1608, located their prin-
cipal village called Nanticoke. They were of the same parent
stem as the Delawares. The tenth verse of the fifth song of the
Walum Olum, the sacred tribal history of the Lenape, contains
the statement that "the Nanticokes and the Shawnees went to
the Southlands." It is not clear, however, where the separation
of the Nanticokes from the Lenape took place, but Heckewelder
states that they separated from the Lenape after these had
reached the eastern part of the United States, and that the
Nanticokes then went southward in search of hunting and trap-
ping grounds, they being great hunters and trappers.
A short time after the settlement of Maryland, they had diffi-
culties with the settlers of that colony. They were formally de-
clared enemies in 1642, and the strife was not ended until a treaty
entered into in 1678. A renewal of hostilities was threatened in
1687, but happily prevented, and peace was once more reaffirmed.
In 1698, and from that time forward as long as they remained
within the bounds of Lord Baltimore's colony, reservations were
set aside for them. At this early day they began a gradual migra-
tion northward, though a small part remained in Maryland. The
migration to the North covered many years. On their way they
stopped for a time on the Susquehanna as guests of the Conoy;
later at the mouth of the Juniata; and still later, in 1748 the
greater part of this tribe went up the Susquehanna, halting at
various points and finally settling, during the French and Indian
War, under the protection of the Iroquois, at Chenango, Chugnut,
and Owego, on the east branch of the Susquehanna in southern
New York. For a number of years, their principal seat in Penn-
sylvania was on the east bank of the Susquehanna below the
mouth of the Lackawanna, not far from Pittston, Luzerne
County. Other villages of this tribe were on Nanticoke Creek
and at or near the site of the present town of Nanticoke, Luzerne
County.
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 55
As late as 1766 and 1767, bands of Nanticokes passed through
the Moravian mission at Wyalusing (Friedenshuetten), Bradford
County, on their way to what is now the state of New York.
Many marvelous stories were told concerning this tribe. One
was that they were said to have been the inventors of a poisonous
substance by which they could destroy a whole settlement at once.
They were also accused of being skilled in the art of witchcraft,
and, on this account they were greatly feared by the neighboring
tribes. Heckewelder states that he knew Indians who firmly be-
lieved that the Nanticokes had men among them who, if they
wished, could destroy a whole army by merely blowing their
breath toward them.
They had the singular custom of removing the bones of their
dead from place to place during their migrations, and this they
would do even in cases where the dead had not been buried long
enough to be reduced to a skeleton. In cases where the dead had
not been buried long, they would scrape the flesh from the bones,
reinter it, and then take the skeleton with them. Heckewelder re-
lates that between the years 1750 and 1760 he saw several bands
of Nanticokes go through the Moravian town of Bethlehem, Penn-
sylvania, on their migration northward, loaded with the bones of
their relatives and friends. At this time Heckewelder was a boy,
having been born in 1743.
The Tutelo
The Tutelo were a Siouan tribe, related to the Sioux, of Dakota
of the far Northwest. For some time before their entering Penn-
sylvania soon after 1722, they had been living in North Carolina
and Virginia. They were first mentioned by Captain John Smith,
of Virginia, in 1609, as occupying the upper waters of the James
and Rappahannock, and were described by him as being very
barbarous. Their first seat in Pennsylvania was at Shamokin
(Sunbury) where they resided under Iroquois protection. At this
place, the Rev. David Brainerd found them in 1745. Later they
moved up the Susquehanna to Skogari. In 1771, the Tutelo were
settled on the east side of Cayuga inlet about three miles from the
south end of the lake of that name in New York. How this tribe
became so widely separated from the western Sioux still remains
unknown.
The Conoy, the Nanticoke, and the Tutelo were not large
tribes. In 1763, according to Sir William Johnson, the three
tribes numbered about one thousand souls.
56 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
As has been stated, the Shawnees, the Conoy, and the Nanti-
cokes, belonged to the Algonquin parent stem; the Tutelo to the
Siouan; and the Tuscarora to the Iroquoian. These three groups
were widely separated. It is thus seen that, at the time when the
English, the Germans and the Scotch-Irish, and other European
races were coming to Pennsylvania, as widely separated races of
North American Indians were coming from the South to make
their homes in its wilderness and along its streams. Of these in-
coming tribes, the one to figure most prominently in the history
of Pennsylvania was the Shawnee. Following Braddock's defeat,
July 9th, 1755, Pennsylvania suffered the bloodiest Indian in-
vasion in American history, — the invasion of the Shawnees and
Delawares, brought about in part, by the fact that the Shawnees
yielded to French influence. However, as we shall see, the
fraudulent "Walking Purchase" of 1737 and the Purchase of 1754
had much to do with causing these two powerful Indian tribes
to take up arms against Pennsylvania.
The Eries
The Eries, also known as the Erieehronons, were populous
sedentary tribe of Iroquoian stock, which, in the seventeenth cen-
tury, inhabited that part of Pennsylvania extending from Lake
Erie to the Allegheny River, possibly as far south as the Ohio
River, and eastward to the lands of the Susquehannas. They
are also known as the Cat Nation, from the abundance of wild
cats and panthers in their territory. Recorded history gives only
glimpses of them; but it appears that they had many towns and
villages, and that their town, Rique, had, in 1654, between 3,000
and 4,000 combatants, exclusive of women and children. Rique
was located, as nearly as can be determined, at or near where the
city of Erie, Pennsylvania, now stands.
In the Jesuit Relation of 1653, it is stated that the Eries were
forced to proceed farther inland in order to escape their enemies
dwelling west of them. Who these enemies were is not positively
known. Finally, about 1655 or 1656, they were conquered by the
Iroquois. The conquerors entered their palisaded town of Rique,
and there "wrought such carnage among the women and children
that the blood was knee-deep in places." However, this victory
at Rique was dearly bought by the Iroquois, who were compelled
to remain in the country of the Eries two months to care for the
wounded and bury the dead. The Erie power now being broken,
A VIEW OF THE INDIAN TRIBES 57
the people were either destroyed, dispersed, or led into captivity.
Six hundred Eries, who had surrendered at one time, were taken
to the Iroquois country and adopted. There is a tradition that,
some years after the defeat of the Eries, a band of their descend-
ants came from the West, ascended the Allegheny River, and
attacked the Senecas, and were slain to a man.
According to the Jesuit Relation of 1655-56, the cause of the
war between the Iroquois and the Eries was the accidental killing
of a Seneca by one of thirty Erie ambassadors who had gone to
the Seneca capital, Sonontouan, to renew the then existing peace
between these two tribes. The Senecas then put all the Erie
ambassadors to death, except five, and determined to exterminate
the tribe. However, before being utterly defeated at Rique, the
Eries were successful in burning a Seneca town and in defeating a
body of Senecas, which events aroused the Senecas to savage
wrath, causing them to invade the Erie country with eighteen
hundred warriors and to destroy the town of Rique.
The estimated population of the Eries in 1654 was 14,500. Be-
sides Rique, they had another large town, Gentaienton, located,
it seems, in the southern part of Erie County, New York.
The Wenro
The Wenro, a tribe of Iroquoian stock, also known as the
Ahouenrochrhonons, are mentioned in the Jesuit Relation as hav-
ing dwelt some time prior to 1639, "beyond the Erie," or Cat
Nation; and it is probable that their habitat was on the upper
territory of the Allegheny, and, part of it at least, within the
bounds of the State of Pennsylvania. This tribe, too, fell before
the arms of the Iroquois. A notation on Captain John Smith's
map of his explorations, says that they traded with the whites
on the Delaware River.
The Black Minquas
The Wenro seem to have been allied with the Black Minquas
who, according to Herrmann's map of 1670, are placed in the
region west of the Allegheny Mountains, and on the Ohio, or
"Black Minquas River." The Jesuit Relation states that both
the Wenro and the Black Minquas traded with the people on the
upper Delaware, some going by way of the West Branch of the
Susquehanna, down to Sunbury (Shamokin), up to Wyoming,
58 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
and then across to the Delaware River, near the Water Gap ; and
others reaching the Delaware by way of the Conemaugh, Juniata,
and Susquehanna. The Black Minquas were so called because
"they carried a black badge on their breast." About all that is
known of the fate of this tribe is the legend on Herrmann's map,
which reads: "A very great river called Black Minquas River —
where formerly those Black Minquas came over the Susque-
hanna, as far as the Delaware to trade; but the Sasquhana and the
Sinnicus Indians went over and destroyed that very great nation."
The Akansea
A Siouan tribe, the Akansea, in remote times, occupied the
upper Ohio Valley, according to many historians, and were
driven out by the Iroquois. This stream was called the "River of
the Akansea," because this tribe lived upon its shores. When or
how long this river valley was their habitat, is not known.
No other rivers in Pennsylvania, or on the continent, have seen
more changes in the races of Indians living in their valleys than
have the Ohio and the Allegheny, — the dwelling place of the
Alligewi; the Delawares, or Lenape, in the course of their migra-
tion eastward; the Akansea; the Shawnees; the Black Minquas;
the Eries ; the Wenro ; the Senecas ; then once more the Shawnees
and Delawares in their march toward the setting sun before the
great tide of white immigration. What battles and conquests,
all untold, took place in the valleys of these historic streams be-
fore the white man set foot upon their shores! Who would not
seek to draw aside the curtain, which, it seems, must forever
hide this unrecorded history from our view?
Having given this survey of the Indian tribes that inhabited
Pennsylvania, we shall devote the next chapter to a brief treat-
ment of the Indian policy of the Swedes on the Delaware and
William Penn.
CHAPTER III
The Swedes and William Penn
Founding of New Sweden
AS early as 1624, Sweden's most famous king, Gustavus
^Adolphus, one of the heroic and admirable characters of all
time, proposed to found a free state in the New World, "where
the laborer should reap the fruits of his toil, where the rights of
conscience should be inviolate," and which should be an asylum
for the persecuted of every nation and every clime. At that time,
the awful Thirty Years War was raging in Europe, and amid its
fire and blood and desolation, the Swedish King had a vision of
such a "Holy Experiment" as William Penn started more than
half a century later. Before he could carry out his plans of
colonization, the noble Gustavus Adolphus laid down his life on
the bloody battle-field of Lutzen, Germany, on November 16th,
1632. According to Bancroft and others, the King, just a few
days before his death, recommended his noble enterprise to the
people of Germany, as he had before to the people of his beloved
Sweden.
Christina, the daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, succeeded her
father to the throne of Sweden, and was destined to play a vital
part in the development of the plans of her illustrious parent.
Late in the autumn of 1737, two ships left Sweden carrying a
small band of resolute emigrants purposing to establish a Swedish
colony in ihe New World under the patronage of Queen Christina.
These ships, commanded by Peter Minuit, who had been the
Dutch Company's director at Manhattan from 1626 to 1632,
arrived on the west bank of the Delaware River, in the middle of
March, 1638. Charmed by the beauty of the region, the Swedes
gave the name of Paradisudden (Paradise Point) to a particularly
beautiful spot where they landed temporarily. Passing on up
the river, their ships arrived at the Minquas Kill of the Dutch
(White Clay and Christina Creeks), which enters the Delaware
from the west. The ships then sailed up the Minquas Kill some
60 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
distance, and cast anchor at a place where some Indians had
pitched their wigwams.
Peter Minuit then fired a salute of two guns and went ashore
with some of his men to reconnoiter and establish connection with
the Indians. They also went some distance into the country.
Minuit then returned to his ship. The roar of his cannon had
the desired elTect; several Indian chiefs made their appearance,
and Minuit at once arranged a conference with them for the sale
of land. The leader of these chiefs was Mattahorn. Possibly
Minuit from his acquaintance with the Dutch trade on the Dela-
ware River during his administration at Manhattan, had some
previous knowledge of this chieftain. Minuit and the chiefs had
no difftculty in coming to an agreement. He explained to the
Indians that he wanted ground on which to build a "house," and
other ground on which to plant. For the former he ofTered a
"kettle and other articles," and for the latter, half of the tobacco
raised upon it. On the same, or following day, Mattahorn and
five other chiefs went aboard one of the ships of the Swedes and
sold as much "of the land on all parts and places of the river, up
the river, and on both sides, as Minuit requested."
The merchandise specified in the deeds being given to them,
the chiefs traced their totem marks on the documents, and Peter
Minuit, Mans Kling, and others signed their names below. The
extent of this purchase embraced the territory lying below the
Minquas Kill to Duck Creek, a distance of forty miles and up the
river to the Schuylkill, a distance of twenty-seven miles along the
bank of the Delaware, in both cases stretching an indefinite dis-
tance to the westward. The purchase being concluded, Minuit
with his ofificers and soldiers went ashore. A pole was then erected
with the Coat of Arms of Sweden upon it; "and with the report of
cannon, followed by other solemn ceremonies, the land was called
New Sweden."
To be specific, the lands purchased by the Swedes from the
Indians extended along the west bank of the Delaware from the
mouth of Minquas Creek to a point opposite Trenton, New
Jersey. Near the mouth of Minquas Creek, so named by them
because it was one of the main trails to the land of the Minquas
or Susquehannas, they erected Fort Christina, named in honor
of the Swedish Queen. As stated in Chapter II, the Swedes also
purchased lands from the Susquehanna tribe. It is probable that
a large part of this purchase was a confirmation of the purchase
from the Delawares.
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 61
The first Indians with whom the Swedes dealt in making the
first settlements within the bounds of Pennsylvania, were the
Delawares or Lenape of the Unalachtigo or Turkey Clan. At
that time, the Delawares on the lower reaches of the river of the
same name were called "River Indians," and it seems true that
they were subject to the authority of the Minquas or Susque-
hannas. It has been contended, as pointed out in Chapter II,
that the conquering of the Susquehannas by the Iroquois, in
1675, carried with it the subjugation of the Delawares. Soon
after the founding of their first settlements on Pennsylvania soil,
the Swedes dealt also with the Minquas or Susquehannas, carry-
ing on a vast fur trade with them and thereby incurring the
jealousy and enmity of the Dutch at Manhattan, a fact which led
to the overthrow of New Sweden by the Dutch, in 1655. It is
said that the Swedes exported 30,000 skins during the first year
of their occupancy of Fort Christina, and, as was stated in
Chapter II, Governor-General John Printz, of New Sweden, in
his report for the year 1647, says that, because of the conflict of
his colonists with the Dutch, he had suffered a loss of "8,000 or
9,000 beavers which have passed out of our hands" and which,
but for the Dutch, would have been gotten from "the great
traders, the Minquas." As was stated in Chapter II, the Swedes
assisted the Susquehannas in their struggle against the might of
the Iroquois, furnishing them arms for their warriors after the
manner of European soldiers.
Indian Policy of the Swedes
The principles on which New Sweden was founded and the
benevolent intentions of the Swedes towards the Indians are
thus set forth in the letter granting the privileges to the colonists,
signed by Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna, of Sweden, dated January
24th, 1640, and directed to the Commandant and inhabitants of
Fort Christina.
"As regards religion, we are willing to permit that, besides the
Augsburg Confession, [of the Lutheran Church], the exercise of
the pretended reformed religion may be established and observed
in that country, in such manner, however, that those who profess
the one or the other religion live in peace, abstaining from every
useless dispute, from all scandal and all abuse. The patrons of
this colony shall be obliged to support, at all times, as many
ministers and school masters as the number of inhabitants shall
62 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
seem to require, and to choose, moreover, for this purpose, persons
who have at heart the conversion of the pagan inhabitants to Chris-
tianity.''
The policy of the Swedes towards the Indians is more speci-
fically set forth in the "Instructions to Governor John Printz,"
dated at Stockholm, August 15th, 1642, as follows:
"The wild nations, bordering on all sides, the Governor shall
treat with all humanity and respect, and so that no violence or
wrong be done to them by Her Royal Majesty or her subjects
aforesaid; but he shall rather . . . exert himself that the same
wild people may be gradually instructed in the truths and wor-
ship of the Christian religion, and in other ways brought to
civilization and good government, and in this manner properly
guided. Especially shall he seek to gain their confidence, and
impress upon their minds that neither he, the Governor, nor his
people and subordinates are come into these parts to do them any
wrong, or injury, but much more for the purpose of furnishing
them with such things as they may need for the ordinary wants
of life."
These "Instructions" further admonished the Governor that
he "must bear in mind that the wild inhabitants of the country"
are "its rightful lords."
There is no sublimer chapter in American history than the
story of the relations between the Swedes on the Delaware and
the aborigines of Pennsylvania. The Swede treated the Indian
with justice. He recognized that there was a title in the Indian
to the land which he loved with an undying love, the land where
he was born and where his fathers were born for countless genera-
tions. Furthermore, the Swede labored with success in convert-
ing the Indians to the Christian faith. The Swedish Lutheran
clergyman, the Reverend John Campanius, who accompanied
Governor John Printz to New Sweden in 1643, was active as a
missionary among the Delawares and translated Martin Luther's
Catechism into the Delaware tongue, — the first book to be trans-
lated into the language of the North American Indians. The
petition, "Give us this day our daily bread," Campanius trans-
lated, "Give us this day a plentiful supply of venison and corn."
This Lutheran clergyman was the first missionary of the Christian
religion to labor among the Indians of Pennsylvania; and the
Swedish Lutheran church at Tinicum, which he dedicated on
September 4th, 1646, and of which he was pastor, "was the first
regularly dedicated church building within the limits of Penn-
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 63
sylvania." The Rev. Campanius is sometimes referred to as
Campanius Holm. "Holm" indicates that he was from Stock-
holm.
The year 1644 was the only year in which Indian troubles
threatened New Sweden, The cause of this trouble was the
fact that the Dutch at Manhattan adopted a course of "exter-
mination" of the Indians on the lower reaches of the Hudson, and
during the years 1644 and 1645, had killed sixteen hundred of the
natives at Manhattan and in its neighborhood. They slaughtered
all ages and both sexes; and the word of these shocking and un-
pardonable cruelties spread along the Atlantic Ocean, causing the
Indians of the Delaware to feel bitter towards all newcomers.
In the spring of 1644, a Swedish woman and her husband, an
Englishman, were killed not far from the site of Chester, Penn-
sylvania,— the first white blood shed in Pennsylvania by the
Indians. Governor John Printz of the Swedish colony then
assembled his people for the defense of Chester; but the Indian
chiefs of that region came to him disowning the act and desiring
peace. He then made a treaty of peace with them, distributing
presents and restoring friendly relations. During this year there
was a great Indian council held, which has been described by Rev.
John Campanius, over which the Delaware Chief, Mattahorn,
presided and in which the destruction of the Swedes was con-
sidered. Mattahorn is said to have presented the question for
the consideration of the council; but the decision was that the
Swedes should not be molested. The warriors said that the
Swedes should be considered "good friends," and that the Indians
had "no complaint to make of them."
On June 17th, 1654, a great council of the Delawares was held
at Printz Hall, at Tinicum, for the purpose of renewing the
ancient bond of friendship that existed between the Indians and
the Swedes. At this council the Delaware, (some say Minquas
or Susquehanna) chief, Naaman, whose name is preserved in
Naaman's Creek, near the Delaware line, praised the virtues of
the Swedes. Campanius thus describes the occasion:
"The 17th June, 1654, was gathered together at Printz Hall at
Tinicum, ten of the sachemans of the Indian chiefs, and there at
that time was spoken to them in the behalf of the great Queen of
Sweedland for to renew the old league of friendship that was be-
twixt them, and that the Sweeds had bought and purchased land
of them. They complained that the Sweeds they should have
brought in with them much evil, because so many of them since
64 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
are dead and expired. Then there was given unto them consider-
able presents and parted amongst them. When they had received
the presents they went out, and had a conference amongst them a
pretty while, and came in again, and then spoke one of the chiefs,
by name Noaman [Naaman], rebuked the rest, and that they had
spoken evil of the Sweeds and done them harm, and that they
should do so no more, for they were good people. Look, said he,
pointing upon the presents, what they have brought us, and they
desire our friendship, and then he stroked himself three times
down his arm, which was an especial token of friendship. After-
wards he thanked for the presents they had received, which he did
in all their behalfs, and said that there should hereafter be ob-
served and kept a more strict friendship amongst them than there
hath been hitherto. That, as they had been in Governor Printz
his time, one body and one heart, (beating and knocking upon
his breast), they should henceforward be as one head. For a token
waving with both his hands, and made as if he would tye a
strong knot; and then he made this comparison, that as the calli-
bash is of growth round without any crack, also they from hence-
forth hereafter as one body without any separation, and if they
heard or understood that any one would do them or any of theirs
any harm, we should give them timely notice thereof, and like-
wise if they heard any mischief plotting against the Christians,
they would give them notice thereof, if it was at midnight. And
then answer was made unto them, that that would be a true and
lasting friendship, if everyone would consent to it. Then the
great guns were fired, which pleased them exceedingly well, say-
ing,'Pu-hu-hu! mo ki-rick pickon.' That is, 'Hear! now believe!
The great guns are fired.' And then they were treated with wine
and brandy. Then stood up another of the Indians and spoke,
and admonished all in general that they should keep the league
and friendship with the Christians that was made, and in no man-
ner or way violate the same, and do them no manner of injury,
not to their hogs or their cattle, and if any one should be found
guilty thereof, they should be severely punished, others to an
example. They advised that we should settle some Sweeds upon
Passaiunck, where then there lived a power of Indians for to ob-
serve if they did any mischief, they should be confirmed, the
copies of the agreements were then punctually read unto them.
But the originals were at Stockholm, and when their names (were
read) that had signed, they seemed when they heard it rejoiced,
but when anyone's name was read that was dead, they hung their
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 65
heads down and seemed to be sorrowful. And then there was
set upon the floor in the great hall two great kettles, and a great
many other vessels with sappan, that is, mush, made of Indian
corn or Indian wheat, as groweth there in abundance. But the
sachemans they sate by themselves, but the common sort of
Indians they fed heartily, and were satisfied. The above men-
tioned treaty and friendship that then was made betwixt the
Sweeds and the Indians, hath been ever since kept and observed,
and that the Sweeds have not been by them molested."
As stated earlier in this chapter. New Sweden was overthrown
by the Dutch in 1655. However, the Swedes were permitted to
remain on their lands. The Indian's love for the Swede never
abated, and when William Penn came to his Province in 1682, he
used Swedes as his interpreters in getting in touch with the
Indians. Indeed, the just and kindly treatment of the Dela-
wares by the Swedish settlers caused that friendly reception
which these children of the forest William Penn, when, with open
heart and open hand, they welcomed him to the shores of the
Western World.
Dr. William M. Reynolds, in the introduction to his transla-
tion of Acrelius' "History of New Sweden," emphasizes a great
historical truth when he says:
"The Swedes inaugurated the policy of William Penn, for
which he has been deservedly praised, in his purchase of the soil
from the Indians, and his uniformly friendly intercourse with
them."
A Contrast
The Indian policy of the Swedes on the Delaware stands out
in strong contrast with the Indian policy of many other colonies,
especially with the Indian policy of early New England. At this
point, let us raise the curtain and take a view of what was happen-
ing on the shores of New England while the sublime things we
have just related were happening on the shores of the Delaware,
on Pennsylvania soil. The "Pilgrim Fathers" came to New Eng-
land in 1620. They were kindly welcomed and kindly treated by
the Indians. Not long after the landing at Plymouth, the Indian,
Samoset, entered the town, exclaiming, "Welcome, Englishmen!"
He was a member of the Wampanoag tribe, and, in the name of
his nation, invited the Pilgrims to possess the soil. In a few days,
he returned with another of his tribe, Squanto by name, who
66 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
became a benefactor of the infant colony, teaching the white
men many things about fishing and raising corn.
Soon the aborigines of New England were given the white
man's rum, the curse of the Red man. Soon troubles came on
apace between the Indian and the New Englander, caused, in
large measure, by the New Englander's trickery and failure to
recognize in the Indian a title to the land of himself and his
fathers. Soon we see the Puritan antagonizing the Indian and
deliberately planning his utter extinction. Soon we see Captain
Miles Standish disturbing and despoiling the resting places of
the Indian dead, to the horror and rage of the Indians. Soon we
see Standish stabbing the Indian, Pecksuot, to death and Stand-
ish's men killing many of Pecksuot's companions, which caused
the Rev. John Robinson, father of the Plymouth church, to ex-
claim: "It would have been happy if they had converted some
before they killed any."
Time passes, and we see the Puritan hunting the Indian through
the forests and swamps of New England like a wild beast. We
see the Puritan trafficking in Indian women and children, and
selling them into slavery. Many were shipped to the slave
markets of the West Indies. At one time, as many as fifty
Indian women and children were captured for the purpose of
selling them as slaves.
The intolerance of the Puritan found a natural vent in the ex-
tinction of the Indian. The Puritan lauded his treacheries and
inhumanities towards the unsophisticated children of the forest.
Puritan malignity reached a climax in the offering of a reward for
Indian scalps, irrespective of sex or age. And then, there rise up
in history the grim and grisly features of those Puritan clergymen
who gloried in the extinction of the Indian, especially the Mathers.
The New Englanders shot and burned to death six hundred men,
women and children of the Pequot tribe in one day. Concerning
this horrible affair, the "learned and pious Rev. Cotton Mather"
wrote: "Many of them were broiled unto death in the avenging
flames;" while Increase Mather wrote exultingly concerning the
same slaughter of women and children: "It was supposed that
no less than 500 or 600 Pequot souls were brought down to hell
that day." Thus did these "great New England divines and
theologians" glory in the slaughter of the Indians, irrespective of
age or sex. Thus were these clergymen "inspired to prayers of
thankfulness and praise." (For the Puritan's Indian policy, see
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 67
Sylvester's "Indian Wars of New England," Vol. 1, pages 97 to
99, 156 to 162, 169 and 170, 293 and 313.)
Many school books contain pictures of the Puritans going to
church with guns on their shoulders to defend themselves from
the Indians. These pictures tell only a half truth, which is often
as misleading as a downright falsehood. There should be ex-
planatory notes at the bottom of tl^e pictures telling why it was
necessary for the Puritans to carry guns as they went to worship
the Prince of Peace.
New England historians and New England poets have thrown
a glamour around the early history of New England which the
facts do not justify. The Puritan, by his barbarous treatment of
the Indian, has left a stain on the early history of New England
which no New England historian and no New England poet,
however friendly or however gifted, can ever efface.
In addition to its just Indian policy, New Sweden had many
other excellencies that stand out in strong contrast with the early
history of New England. With her, liberty of conscience was a
historical fact, and not a mockery or a myth, as with the "Pilgrim
Fathers" of New England. She laid down the principles of liberty
of conscience and education of the people, as the foundation of
her political structure, before William Penn was born; and she
steadfastly adhered to these principles to the end of her separate
and independent existence, giving them an impetus that con-
tributed very largely to their adoption as the most cherished and
sacred principles in the structure of our American Common-
wealth. No man had his ears cut off, no man had his tongue
bored through, no man was hanged for not adhering to the
Lutheran Church of New Sweden — all this in striking contrast
with the way the "Pilgrim Fathers" of New England persecuted
those who did not accept the Puritan type of religion. The
Lutheran Swedes who landed on the shores of the Delaware and
made the first settlements in Pennsylvania, had far more to do
with molding American history than had the "Pilgrim Fathers"
of New England. "America," says Woodrow Wilson, "did not
come out of New England." Well for us that America did not
take on the stamp of the bigotry and intolerance of the "Pilgrim
Fathers" of New England, but took on the stamp of liberty of
conscience of the Lutheran Swedes of Pennsylvania.
The history of the beginnings in Pennsylvania is as much more
glorious than the history of the beginnings in New England as the
light of the sun is more glorious than the light of a candle. The
68 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Swedes on the Delaware deserve monuments of marble and bronze,
medals of silver and gold; but their best monument is the best
love of the best American hearts, and the truest impression of
their image is in the improved condition of mankind, which came
about as the fruits of the immortal principles to which they
adhered.
The Coming of William Penn
After the conquest of New Sweden, in the autumn of 1655, the
Dutch continued their rule on the Delaware until the autumn of
1664, when English rule began on this stream. Charles II
granted to his brother James, Duke of York, the territory em-
bracing the states of New York and New Jersey, and, by a later
grant, the state of Delaware. The Dutch colony on the Dela-
ware yielded to the Duke of York without bloodshed. On March
4th, 1681, Charles II afhxed his signature to William Penn's
charter for the Province of Pennsylvania. As the great founder
of the Province was on his way to the shores of this Western
World to treat the Red Man with justice and to establish an
asylum for the persecuted of every sect and every creed, the
following letter was written by the "great New England divine
and theologian, " Cotton Mather:
"September ye 15, 1682.
To ye aged and beloved Mr. Jolui Higginson:
There is now at sea a ship called the Welcome, which has on
board an hundred or more of the heretics and malignants called
Quakers, W. Penn, who is the chief scamp, at the head of them.
The general court has accordingly given secret orders to
Master Malachi Huscott of the brig Porpoise to waylay the said
Welcome slyly, as near the Cape of Cod as may be, and make
captive the said Penn and his ungodly crew, so that the Lord may
be glorified and not mocked on the soil of this new country with
the heathen worship of these people. Much spoil can be made
by selling the whole lot to Barbados, where slaves fetch good
prices in rum and sugar, and we shall not only do the Lord great
service by punishing the wicked but we shall make great good
for his Minister and people.
Master Huscott feels hopeful and I will set down the news
when the ship comes back.
Yours in ye bowels of Christ,
COTTON MATHER."
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 69
The Indian Policy of William Penn
William Penn did not set foot upon the soil of his Province
until the 29th day of October, 1682 ; but, after maturing his plans
for the new colony during the summer of 1681, he appointed his
cousin, William Markham, to be his deputy governor. Markham
left England in the spring of 1682, and arrived at New York about
the middle of June of that year. He then proceeded to Upland,
or Chester, Pennsylvania, and, no doubt, presented his creden-
tials to the justices and announced to them and the settlers that
once more a change of government had been decreed.
William Penn decided to follow the advice of the Bishop of
London and the example of the Swedes, and purchase from the
Indians inhabiting his Province whatever lands, within the
bounds of the same, might from time to time, become occupied
by his colonists. The first Indian deed of record was a purchase
of lands in Bucks County, made by Deputy Governor Markham
for William Penn, dated the 15th day of July, 1682. The native
grantors were fourteen Delaware chiefs or "sachemakers," bear-
ing the following names: Idauahon, leanottowe, Idquoquequon,
Sahoppe for himself and Okonikon, Merkekowon, Orecton for
Nannacussey, Shaurwawghon, Swanpisse, Nahoosey, Tomak-
hickon, Westkekitt and Tohawsis.
Markham paid the Indians for this purchase: 350 fathoms of
wampum, 20 fathoms of "stroudwaters," 20 white blankets, 20
guns, 20 coats, 40 shirts, 40 pairs of stockings, 40 hose, 40 axes, 2
barrels of powder, 60 fathoms of "dufihelds," 20 kettles, 200 bars
of lead, 200 knives, 200 small glasses, 12 pairs of shoes, 40 copper
boxes, 40 tobacco tongs, 2 small barrels of pipes; 40 pairs of scis-
sors, 40 combs, 20 pounds of red lead, 100 awls, two handfuls of
fish hooks, two handfuls of needles, 40 pounds of shot, 10 bundles
of beads, 10 small saws, 12 drawing knives, 2 ankers of tobacco,
2 ankers of rum, 2 ankers of cider, 2 ankers of beer, and 300
guilders in money, — a formidable list, indeed, and all very accept-
able to the Indians.
William Penn Purchases Land from Tamanend
On June 23rd, 1683, William Penn, at a meeting with Taman-
end and a number of other Delaware chiefs at Shakamaxon, with-
in the limits of Philadelphia, purchased two dififerent tracts of
land from the Indians. The first deed was from Tamanend, who
70 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
made "his mark" to the same, being a snake coiled. This deed
conveyed all of Tamanend's lands "lying betwixt the Pem-
mapecka [Pennypack] and Nessaminehs [Neshaminy] Creeks,
and all along Nessaminehs Creek." The consideration was "so
many guns, shoes, stockings, looking glasses, blankets, and other
goods as the said William Penn shall please to give."
On the same date, (June 23, 1683), William Penn purchased a
second tract of land from Tamanend, the deed being signed by
Tamanend and Metamequan. It conveyed all the grantors' lands
"lying betwixt and about Pemmapecka and Nessaminehs Creeks,
and all along Nessaminehs Creek." The consideration was "so
much wampum and other goods as he, the said William Penn,
shall be pleased to give unto us." However, there is a receipt
attached to this deed for the following articles : 5 pairs of stock-
ings, 20 bars of lead, 10 tobacco boxes, 6 coats, 2 guns, 8 shirts, 2
kettles, 12 awls, 5 hats, 25 pounds of powder, 1 peck of pipes, 38
yards of "duffields," 16 knives, 100 needles, 10 glasses, 5 caps, 15
combs, 5 hoes, 9 gimlets, 20 fish hooks, 10 tobacco tongs, 10 pairs
of scissors, 7 half-gills, 6 axes, 2 blankets, 4 handfuls of bells, 4
yards of "stroudswaters" and 20 handfuls of wampum.
Also, on the 5th day of July 1697, "King Taminy [Taman-
end], and Weheeland, my Brother and Weheequeckhon alias
Andrew, who is to be king after my death, Yaqueekhon alias
Nicholas, and Quenameckquid alias Charles, my Sons," granted
to William Penn, who was then in England, all the lands "between
the Creek called Pemmapeck [Pennypack] and the Creek called
Neshaminy, in the said province extending in length from the
River Delaware so far as a horse can travel in two summer dayes,
and to carry its breadth according as the several courses of the said
two Creeks will admit, and when the said Creeks do so branch
that the main branches or bodies thereof cannot be discovered,
then the Tract of Land hereby granted, shall stretch forth upon
a direct course on each side and so carry on the full breadth to
the extent of the length thereof." For copies of Tamanend's
deeds of June 23d, 1683 and July 5th, 1697, see Penna. Archives
First Series, Vol. I, pages 62, 64 and 124.
It is to be noted that in the list of articles which Penn gave in
exchange for the various tracts of land purchased from Tamanend
and his associate chiefs, no brandy or other strong liquor appeared
It will be recalled that in Markham's purchase in Bucks County
on the 15th of July, 1682, he gave the contracting sachems, rum,
cider and beer as part of the purchase price. Penn, however.
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 71
was more scrupulous than his deputy governor, doubtless having
realized more strongly than Markham, the injury done the
Indians by liquor. Indeed, in the "Great Law" which Penn drew
up shortly after his arrival, there was a provision for punishing
any person by fine of five pounds who should "presume to sell or
exchange any rum or brandy or any strong liquors at any time
to any Indian, within this province." Later the Indians found
their appetite for strong liquor to be so strong that they agreed,
if the colonists would sell them liquor, to submit to punishment
by the civil magistrates "the same as white persons."
Penn's Treaty with Tamanend
Penn's memorable treaty with Tamanend and other Delaware
chiefs, of the Turtle Clan, under the great elm at Shakamaxon,
within the limits of Philadelphia, is full of romantic interest.
Unarmed, clad in his sombre Quaker garb, he addressed the
Indians assembled there, uttering the following words, which
will be admired throughout the ages: "We meet on the broad
pathway of good faith and good-will ; no advantage shall be taken
on either side, but all shall be openness and love. We are the
same as if one man's body was to be divided into two parts; we
are of one flesh and one blood." The reply of Tamanend, is
equally noble: "We will live in love with William Penn and his
children as long as the creeks and rivers run, and while the sun,
moon, and stars endure."
No authentic record has been preserved of the "Great Treaty,"
made familiar by Benjamin West's painting and Voltaire's allu-
sion to it "as the only treaty never sworn to and never broken;"
and there has been a lack of agreement among historians as to
the time when it took place. Many authorities claim that the
time was in the November days, shortly after Penn arrived in his
Province. "Under the shelter of the forest," says Bancroft, "now
leafless by the frosts of autumn, Penn proclaimed to the men of
the Algonquin race, from both banks of the Delaware, from the
borders of the Schuylkill, and, it may have been, even from the
Susquehanna, the same simple message of peace and love which
George Fox had professed before Cromwell, and Mary Fisher had
borne to the Grand Turk."
Other authorities, in recent times, fix the time of the treaty
as on the 23rd day of June, 1683, when Penn, as has been seen,
purchased the two tracts of land from Tamanend and his associ-
72 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
ates; in other words, that the purchase of land and the "Great
Treaty" took place at the same time and at the same place. More-
over, a study of West's painting of the treaty scene shows the
trees to be in full foliage, thus not suggesting a late autumn or
winter day, as contended by Bancroft, but rather a day in the
leafy month of June, Even if we should not grant the purchase
of the two tracts of land from Tamanend and others on the 23rd
of June, 1683, the distinction of being the "Great Treaty," it
was most certainly a treaty of great importance and entitled to a
prominent place in the Indian history of Pennsylvania and the
Nation.
Says Jenkins, in his "Pennsylvania, Colonial and Federal":
"In the years following 1683, far down into the next century, the
Indians preserved the tradition of an agreement of peace made
with Penn, and it was many times recalled in the meetings held
with him and his successors. Some of these allusions are very
definite. In 1715, for example, an important delegation of the
Lenape chiefs came to Philadelphia to visit the Governor. Sas-
soonan — afterward called Allummapees, and for many years the
principal chief of his people — was at the head, and Opessah, a
Shawnee chief, accompanied him. There was 'great ceremony,'
says the Council record, over the 'opening of the calumet.' Rattles
were shaken, and songs were chanted. Then Sassoonan spoke,
offering the calumet to Governor Gookin, who in his speech spoke
of 'that firm Peace that was settled between William Penn, the
founder and chief governor of this country, at his first coming into
it,' to which Sassoonan replied that they had come 'to renew the
former bond of friendship; that William Penn had at his first
coming made a clear and open road all the way to the Indians,
and they desired the same might be kept open and that all ob-
structions might be removed,' etc. In 1720, Governor Keith,
writing to the Iroquois chiefs of New York, said : 'When Govern-
or Penn first settled this country he made it his first care to culti-
vate a strict alliance and friendship with all the Indians, and con-
descended so far as to purchase his lands from them.' And in
March, 1722, the Colonial Authorities, sending a message to the
Senecas, said: 'William Penn made a firm peace and league with
the Indians in these parts near forty years ago, which league has
often been repeated and never broken.' " In fact, the "Great
Treaty" was never broken until the Penn's Creek Massacre of
October 16, 1755.
Unhappily, then, historians are not able to agree in stating the
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 73
exact date of the "Great Treaty" under the historic elm on the
banks of the Delaware, — a treaty that occupies a high and glorious
place in the Indian history and traditions of Pennsylvania and the
Nation. Though the historian labors in vain to establish the
date, the fact of the treaty remains as inspiring to us of the
present day as it was to the historians, painters, and poets of the
past.
On August 16th, 1683, William Penn wrote a long letter to the
Free Society of Traders, in which he describes a council that he
had with the Indians, — possibly the "Great Treaty":
"I have had occasion to be in council with them (the Indians)
upon treaties for land, and to adjust the terms of trade. Their
order is thus: The King sits in the middle of an half moon, and
hath his council, the old and wise, on each hand; behind them or
at a little distance, sit the younger fry in the same figure . . .
When the purchase was agreed, great promises passed between us
of kindness and good neighborhood, and that the Indians and
English must live in love as long as the sun and moon give light;
which done, another made a speech to the Indians in the name of
all the Sachamakers or Kings, first to tell them what was done;
next to charge and command them to love the Christians, and
particularly live in peace with me, and the people under my
Government; that many Governors had been on the River, but
that no Governor had come himself to live and stay here before;
and having now such an one that treated them well, they should
never do him or his any wrong. At every sentence of which they
shouted and said Amen in their way."
The "Great Treaty" was preserved by the head chiefs of the
Turtle Clan of Delawares for generations. Chief Killbuck is said
to have lost the historic document when, on March 24th, 1782,
he fled to Fort Pitt to escape death at the hands of the Scotch-
Irish settlers who attacked him and other friendly Delawares on
Smoky Island, also called Killbuck's Island, in the Ohio River,
near the fort.
Tamanend
The great Delaware chief, Tamanend, (Tammany, etc.) from
whom William Penn and his agents purchased lands and with
whom Penn made the "Great Treaty," was head chief of the
Unami or Turtle Clan of Delawares from before 1683 until 1697
and, perhaps, later. He is referred to in the Colonial Records of
Pennsylvania as "King" of the Delawares, owing to the fact that
74 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the head chief of the Turtle Clan always presided at the councils
of the three clans composing the Delaware nation. Heckewelder
thus describes Tamanend :
"The name of Tamanend is held in the highest veneration by
all the Indians. Of all the chiefs and great men which the Lenape
nation ever had, he stands foremost on the list. But, although
many fabulous stories are circulated about him among the whites,
but little of his real history is known. The misfortunes which
have befallen some of the most beloved and esteemed personages
among the Indians since the Europeans came among them, pre-
vent the survivors from indulging in the pleasure of recalling to
mind the memory of their virtues. No white man who regards
their feeling, will introduce such subjects in conversation with
them. All we know, therefore, of Tamanend is that he was an
ancient Delaware chief who never had an equal. He was, in the
highest degree, endowed with wisdom, virtue, prudence, charity,
affability, meekness, hospitality; in short with every good and
noble qualification that a human being may possess. He was
supposed to have had intercourse with the great and good Spirit;
for he was a stranger to everything that is bad. The fame of
this great man extended even among the whites, who fabricated
numerous legends concerning him, which I never heard, however,
from the mouth of an Indian, and, therefore, believe to be
fabulous. In the Revolutionary War, his enthusiastic admirers
dubbed him a saint and he was established under the name of
Saint Tammany, the Patron Saint of America. His name was
inserted in some calendars and his festival celebrated on the first
day of May in every year."
Heckewelder then describes the celebrations in honor of Saint
Tammany. They were conducted along Indian lines, and in-
cluded the smoking of the calumet and Indian dances in the open
air. "Tammany Societies" in the early part of our history as a
nation, were organized in several American cities.
Tamanend 's last appearance in recorded history was when he,
his brother and sons, conveyed the lands to William Penn on July
5th, 1697. But three years prior thereto, or on July 6th, 1694, he
appeared at a council at Philadelphia, a number of other Delaware
chiefs accompanying the venerable sachem. At this council, he
thus expressed his friendly feelings for the colonists, in a speech
addressed to Lieutenant-Governor Markham: "We and the
Christians of this river [Delaware] have always had a free road-
way to one another, and although sometimes a tree has fallen
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 75
across the road, yet we have still removed it again, and kept the
path clean ; and we design to continue the old friendship that has
been between us and you."
Tamanend died before July, 1701, but the date of his death is
not known. All that is mortal of this great and good chieftain
reposes in the soil of the beautiful valley of the Neshamminy, —
the region which he and his associate chiefs conveyed to "Mi-
quon," or "Brother Onas," as the Indians affectionately called
William Penn. His grave is believed to be in "Tammany Burial
Ground," near Chalfonte, Bucks County.
Penn's Two Sojourns in his Province
William Penn remained in his Province until June 12th, 1684,
on which date he sailed for England. Before leaving, he provided
for the administration of the government of the Province, lodging
the executive power with the Provincial Council. During the
spring or summer of 1683, he had visited the interior of the Pro-
vince, going as far as the Susquehanna and holding many friendly
conferences with the Indians of the interior.
William Penn returned to Pennsylvania in December, 1699,
after an absence of fifteen years ; and he remained in his Province
until the autumn of 1701, when he left finally, arriving in England
about the middle of December of that year. During his second
sojourn in Pennsylvania, he made his home in his commodious
Manor House, at Pennsbury, in Falls Township, Bucks County,
about twenty miles from Philadelphia. The erection of the man-
sion had been started during his absence and was completed by
him after his return. Here he received many visits from different
Indian chiefs, a room in the mansion having been set apart for
Indian conferences.
During Penn's second sojourn in his Province, he endeavored
to obtain additional legislation placing restrictions on the inter-
course with the Indians, in order to protect them from the arts of
the whites and the ravages of the rum trafific. He also endeavored
to have the natives instructed in the doctrines of Christianity. In
order to improve the temporal condition of the natives, he held
frequent conferences at his manor house with various sachems;
and frequently visited them in their forest homes, participating in
their festivals. When they visited him at Pennsbury, it is said
that he joined with them in their sports and games, ate hominy,
venison, and roasted acorns with them, and matched them in
76 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
strength and agility. It is recorded that nineteen Indian treaties
were concluded and conferences held at Pennsbury.
Penn's Treaty with the Susquehannas, Shawnees, Conoys
and Five Nations
After the close of King William's war, the governor of New
York made a treaty of peace with the Five Nations; and at
William Penn's suggestion it was extended to the other English
colonies. On April 23rd, 1701, Penn entered into "Articles of
Agreement," or a treaty at Philadelphia, with the Susquehannas,
Minquas, or Conestogas, the Shawnees, the Ganawese, Conoys, or
Piscataways, the latter then dwelling on the northern bank of the
Potomac, and the Five Nations. In this treaty the Susquehannas
were represented by Connodaghtoh, their "King," and three chiefs
of the same; the Shawnees were represented by Opessah, or
Wopaththa, their "King," and two other chiefs; the Conoys,
Ganawese, or Piscataways, were represented by four of their
chiefs; and the Five Nations were represented by Ahoakassongh,
"brother to the emperor or great king of the Onondagas."
We are now ready to state the provisions of the treaty. After
first reciting the good understanding that had prevailed between
William Penn and his lieutenants, on the one hand, and the vari-
ous Indian nations inhabiting his Province, on the other hand,
since his first arrival in Pennsylvania, and expressing that there
should be forever a hrm and lasting peace between Penn and his
successors and the various Indian chiefs of his Province, the treaty
provided as follows:
First. That the said "kings and chiefs" and the various In-
dians under their authority should, at no time, hurt, injure or de-
fraud any inhabitants of the Colony of Penn ; and that Penn and
his successors should not sufifer any injury to be done the Indians
by any of his colonists.
Second. That the Indians should, at all times, behave them-
selves in a sober manner according to the laws of the Colony where
they lived near or among the Christian Inhabitants thereof; and
that they should have the full and free privileges and immunities
of the laws of the Colony of Penn in the same manner as the
whites, and acknowledge the authority of the crown of England
in the Province.
Third. That none of the Indians should, at any time, aid.
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 77
assist or abet any other nation, whether of Indians or others, that
would at any time not be in amity with the king of England.
Fourth. That, if at any time, the Indians should hear from
evil-minded persons or sowers of sedition any unkind reports of
the English, representing that the English had evil designs against
the Indians, in such case the Indians should send notice thereof to
Penn or his successors, and not give credence to such reports until
fully satisfied concerning the truth of the same. Penn agreed that
he and his successors should at all times act in the same manner
toward the Indians.
Fifth. That the Indians should not suffer any strange nations
of Indians to settle on the farther side of the Susquehanna or
about the Potomac, except those that were already seated there,
nor bring any other Indians into any part of the Province without
the permission of Penn or his successors.
Sixth. Penn, for the purpose of correcting abuses that were
too frequently connected with the fur trade with the Indians,
agreed on the part of himself and his successors, that no one should
be permitted to trade with the Indians without first securing a
license under the Governor's hand and seal; and the Indians
agreed, on their part, not to permit any person whatsoever to buy
or sell, or have any trade with them, without first having a license
so to do.
Seventh. The Indians agreed not to sell or dispose of any of
their skins or furs to any person whatsoever outside of the Pro-
vince; and Penn bound himself and his successors to furnish the
Indians with all kinds of necessary goods for their use, at reason-
able rates.
Eighth. The Conoys, Ganawese, or Piscataways, should have
leave of Penn and his successors to settle on any part of the Poto-
mac River within the bounds of Penn's Province. (At this time,
the vexed question as to the boundary line between Pennsylvania
and Maryland was unsettled.)
Ninth. The Susquehannas, or Conestogas, as a part of these
articles of agreement, absolutely ratified and confirmed the sale of
lands lying near and about the Susquehanna, formerly conveyed
to William Penn, by deed of Governor Dongan of New York, and
later confirmed by the deed of the Conestogas, dated the 13th day
of September, in the year 1700. The Susquehannas also agreed
to be, at all times, ready further to confirm and make good the
said sale, according to the tenor of the same, and that they would
be answerable to Penn and his successors for the good behavior
78 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
of the Conoys or Ganawese, and for their performing of their
several agreements which were a part of this treaty.
Tenth. In the last item of the agreement, Penn promised, for
himself and his successors, that they would, at all times, show
themselves true friends and brothers to all of the Indians by assist-
ing them with the best of their "advices, directions and counsel,"
and would, in all things just and reasonable, befriend them; and
the chiefs promised, for themselves and their successors, to behave
themselves according to the tenor of the agreement, and to submit
to the laws of the Province in the same manner as "the English
and other Christians therein do." The agreement was then con-
cluded by the exchange of skins and furs, on the part of the In-
dians, and goods and merchandise, on the part of Penn.
At about the time of making this historic treaty of peace with
the Indians on the Susquehanna, William Penn had journied into
the interior of his Province, and conferred with the Conestogas at
Conestoga, their principal town, in Lancaster County, the Cones-
togas being responsible for the good behavior of the Shawnees in
their vicinity, as was pointed out in Chapter II. Penn wrote to
James Logan, in June, 1701, of his visit to the Conestoga region,
as follows : "We were entertained right nobly at the Indian King's
palace at Conestoga." At that time, Penn intended the founding
of a "great city" in the Conestoga region, on the Susquehanna.
At the time of this treaty, most of the Conoy were living on
the north bank of the Potomac, though some had already entered
Pennsylvania as early as 1698 or 1699, as stated in Chapter II.
Some years after the treaty, or in the summer of 1705, the Dela-
ware chief, Manangy, living on the Schuylkill, interviewed Gov-
ernor John Evans, at Philadelphia, explaining that the Conoy,
"settled in this Province near the head of the Potomac, being now
reduced by sickness to a small number, and desirous to quit their
present habitation where they settled about five years ago with
the Proprietor's consent, the Conestoga Indians then becoming
guarantees of a treaty of friendship, made between them, and
showing a belt of wampum they had sent to the Schuylkill Indians
to engage their friendship and consent that they might settle
amongst them near Tulpehocken, request of the Governor that
they may be permitted to settle in the said place." The Governor
then permitted the Conoy to settle in the valley of the Tulpe-
hocken, Manangy and his band on the Schuylkill guaranteeing
their good behavior.
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 79
The historic Treaty or Articles of Agreement of April 23d, 1701
should have a high and glorious place in the history of Penn-
sylvania. The articles are recorded in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 2,
pages 15 to 18; also in Pa. Archives, Vol. 1, pages 144 to 147. The
treaty was carefully preserved by the Shawnees for many
decades. On November 12th, 1764, when Colonel Henry Bouquet
was holding conferences with Nimwha, Red Hawk, Cornstalk
and other Shawnee chiefs, on the Muskingum, relative to the
part this tribe had taken in Pontiac's War, Red Hawk produced
this historic document and three messages or letters from the
Governor of Pennsylvania of different dates, and said:
"Now, Brother, I beg we, who are warriors, may forget our
disputes, and renew the friendship which appears by these papers
to have subsisted between our fathers."
Indians Bid Farewell to William Penn
Shortly before embarking for England, in the autumn of 1701,
William Penn assembled a large company of the Delawares at his
manor house at Pennsbury to review and confirm the covenants
of peace and good will, which he had formerly made with them.
The meeting was held in the great hall of the manor house. The
sachems assured him that they had never broken a covenant
"made with their hearts and not with their heads." After the
business of the conference had been transacted, Penn made them
many presents of coats and other articles, and then the Indians
retired into the courtyard of the mansion to complete their
ceremonies.
By some authorities it is said that Queen Allaquippa, of the
Senecas, with her husband and infant visited William Penn at
New Castle, Delaware, shortly before he sailed for England the
last time. These authorities say that Queen Allaquippa's infant
was Canachquasy, the great peace apostle among the Delawares
during the early days of the French and Indian War. In this
connection, we point out that, in the minutes of a meeting of the
Provincial Council, August 22nd, 1755, (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6,
pages 588 and 589), Canachquasy is referred to as "the son of
old Allaguipas, whose mother was now alive and living near
Ray's Town"; also that George Croghan wrote from Aughwick,
December 23d, 1754, (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 218), that,
"Alequeapy, ye old quine, is dead and Left several children." It
seems quite likely, therefore, that Canachquasy was the son of
80 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the Iroquois chief, Allaguipas, whose name was similar in sound
to that of Queen Allaquippa.
Likewise, Oretyagh, with a number of the sachems of the
Conestogas and Shawnees, came to Philadelphia shortly before
Penn's final departure for England, to take leave of their beloved
"Brother Onas." At this conference, which was held on October
7th, 1701, Penn informed the chiefs that it was likely the last inter-
view that he would ever have with them ; that he had ever loved
and been kind to them and ever would continue so to be, not
through political designs or for a selfish interest, but out of real
affection. He desired them, in his absence to cultivate friendship
with those whom he would leave in authority, so that the bond of
friendship already formed might grow the stronger throughout
the passing years. He also informed them that the Assembly
was at that time enacting a law, according to their desire, to pre-
vent their being abused by the selling of rum among them, with
which Oretyagh, in the name of the rest, expressed great satis-
faction, and desired that the law might speedily and efifectually
be put into execution. Oretyagh said that his people had long
suffered from the ravages of the rum traffic, and that he now
hoped for redress, believing that they would have no reason for
complaint of this matter in the future.
Penn early saw the degradation which the Indians' unquench-
able thirst for strong drink wrought among them, and he did all
in his power to remedy this matter. He said that it made his
heart sick to note the deterioration of character and the degrada-
tion which the strong liquor and vices of the white man wrought
among the Indians during his short stay in the Province.
Finally, at this leavetaking, Penn requested the Indians that,
if any of his colonists should ever transgress the law and agree-
ment, which he and his governor had entered into with them, they
should at once inform the government of his Province, so that
the offenders might be prosecuted. This they promised to observe
faithfully, and that, if any rum were brought among them, they
would not buy it, but send the person who brought it back with it
again. Then, informing the chiefs that he had charged the mem-
bers of his Council that they should, in all respects, be kind and
just to the Indians in every manner as he had been, and making
them presents, he bade them adieu never to meet them again.
Well would it have been for the Colony of Pennsylvania, if
Penn's successors had always emulated his example, and the
example of the Swedes, in dealing with the Indians — if his sue-
THE SWEDES AND WILLIAM PENN 81
cessors had been imbued with his kindly spirit, and had treated
the natives with justice. He died on the 30th of July, 1718, at
Ruscombe, near Tywford, in Buckinghamshire, England, at the
age of seventy-four; and when his great heart was cold and still
in death, the Red Man of the Pennsylvania forests lost his truest
friend. During Penn's life there were no serious troubles between
his colony and the Indian, and no actual warfare, as we shall see,
for some years thereafter; but, less than a generation after this
great apostle of the rights of man was gathered to his fathers, the
Delawares, who had welcomed him so kindly, and the Shawnees,
rose in revolt, after a long series of wrongs, and spread terror,
devastation, and death throughout the Pennsylvania settlements.
Says Dr. George P. Donehoo: "The memory of William Penn
lingered in the wigwams of the Susquehanna and the Ohio until
the last red man of this generation had passed away; and then the
tradition of him was handed down to the generations which fol-
lowed until today, when it still lingers, like a peaceful benediction,
among the Delaware and Shawnee on the sweeping plains of
Oklahoma."
CHAPTER IV
Principal Indian Events From
1701 to 1754
As stated in the preceding chapter, WilHam Penn left his
^/~\Province in the autumn of 1701 never to return. For many
years after his departure, there was much uneasiness among the
Indians of the lower Susquehanna due to the following facts:
(1) The Iroquois regarded the Shawnees as enemies because of
the latter's alliance with the Susquehannas or Conestogas. (2)
The Iroquois made the villages of the Conoys on the lower Sus-
quehanna their stopping places while going to and returning from
the Carolinas in their war against the Catawbas and Cherokees.
(3) The boundary dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland
caused friction between the white traders of the Cones toga region,
and led to open hostility of the people of Maryland to the Sus-
quehannas, Shawnees, Conoys and other Indians of this region.
At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held on May 9, 1704
and reported in Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 2, page 138,
Edward Farmer reported to Governor John Evans that "Carolina
Indians" (most likely Catawbas), to the number of forty, had
recently made a raid into the Conestoga region in revenge for the
capture of one of their number by the Iroquois the year before.
Farmer, who had received his information from Nicole Godin, a
trader at Conestoga, further advised the Governor that the
"Carolina Indians" declared that for many years they had been
attacked by Indians from the northward, "whom they had always
hitherto taken to be those of Canada, but now found who they
were, viz: ye Senecas & those Potomock & Conestogoe, & that
they were Resolved to be Revenged, & to that end three nations
had Joyned & would shortly come up & either destroy or be
destroyed by them." Two weeks later Peter Bezallion, a French
trader in the Conestoga region, reported to the Provincial Council
that he had heard that the Five Nations were coming into the
Province to carry off the Shawnees settled near Conestoga and
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 83
those settled at the mouth of the Lehigh, "they being colonies of
a nation that were their enemies."
Council with Conestogas, Shawnees, and Conoys
On the sixth and seventh of June, 1706, a council was held at
Philadelphia between Governor John Evans and "the chiefs of
the Conestogas, Shawnees, and Ganawese, or Conoys," con-
cerning public affairs relating to these tribes. Indian Harry, of the
Conestogas, was the interpreter. In the minutes of the council,
the Colonial Records do not specifically state that Opessah was
present, but, being the head of the Shawnees at Pequea, there is
no doubt that he attended the council. This council opened with
Secretary James Logan's account of his journey to the Conestogas
and Conoy during the preceding October and the treaty which was
then held with the Conoy at their town (Connejaghera, Cone-
joholo, Dekanoagah) near the site of Washington Borough,
Lancaster County, by the terms of which treaty, the Conoy were
assured that they would be safe in Penn's Province. The Conoy
explained to James Logan, at the time of his visit, that they had
had much trouble with the Virginians, and, considering it not safe
to dwell in their old abode on the Potomac, had come within the
bounds of Pennsylvania, where they hoped to dwell in peace.
At the meeting at Conestoga, in October, 1705, Secretary Logan
reminded the assembled chiefs that "Governor W. Penn, since
first he came into this Countrey, with all those under him, had
always inviolably maintain'd a perfect Friendship with all the
natives of this Countrey, that he found Possess'd of it at his first
arrival" and that "when he was last in the Countrey he visited
those of that place Conestoga, and his son upon his arrival did
the same, in order to cultivate the ancient friendship:" and
complaint was also made that John Hans Steelman was building
a trading house at Conestoga, much to the annoyance of Penn-
sylvania, as Steelman was represented to be a Marylander, and
had no license to trade with the Indians of Penn's Province. The
chiefs informed Logan that they did not encourage Steelman's
activities.
During this council at Philadelphia, Andaggy-Junguagh, chief
of the Conestogas, laid before Governor Evans a very large belt
of wampum, which he said was a pledge of peace formerly
delivered by the Onondagas to the Nanticokes when the Ononda-
gas had subjugated this tribe. He explained that the Nanticokes,
84 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
being lately under some apprehension of danger from the Five
Nations, some of them had, in the spring of 1706, come to the
region of the Conestogas, and had brought this belt with them, as
well as another belt, which, the chief explained, he left at his
village in Lancaster County. He further advised the Governor
that the Five Nations, of whom the Onondagas, as has been seen,
were a member, were presently expected to send deputies to
receive the tribute of the Nanticokes; that he had brought this
belt to Philadelphia in order that the Colonial Authorities might
be able to show it to any of the Five Nations, who might come
to Philadelphia, as evidence to them that peace had been made.
The Provincial Council, after considering the matter, concluded
to keep the belt according to the proposal of the Conestogas; and
the Conestogas promised to retain the other belt at their chief
town, to be shown to the Five Nations if any of their deputies
should come to Conestoga.
The remaining time of the council was taken up by explaining
to the chiefs of these three nations the laws which had been re-
cently enacted regulating the intercourse between the Province
and these Indians. Evans explained to the chiefs that a law had
recently been enacted providing that no person should trade with
them but such as should first have a license from the Governor
under his hand and seal. The chiefs requested the Governor that
only two traders be licensed, but Evans explained that the fewer
the number of traders the more likely it would be that the Indians
would be imposed upon. They then desired of the Governor
that he would not permit the traders to go beyond their towns and
meet the Indians returning from hunting, explaining that it had
been the traders' custom to meet the Indians returning from their
hunt, when they were loaded with furs and peltries, make them
drunk, and get all of the fruits of their hunt before they returned
to their wives and families. The Governor agreed to this proposal
and told the chiefs that their people should have no dealings with
the traders, except at their own villages, and that he would in-
struct the traders not to go any farther into the Susquehanna
region than the principal Indian towns, and to do no trading
whatever, except in those places. Liberal presents were then
given the chiefs, and the council adjourned.
The minutes of this important council are found in the Penn-
sylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 2, pages 244 to 248.
At a meeting of the Provincial Council on the 31st of August,
1706, it was decided that Governor Evans should visit Conestoga
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 85
and the region round about it, for the purpose of further strength-
ening the bond of friendship between the Indians and the Colony.
The Governor accordingly journeyed to this region early in Sep-
tember, where he was well received by the Conestogas, Shawnees
and Conoys; but his visit was the cause of much scandal on ac-
count of his actions while there.
Governor Evans' Journey to the Susquehanna Region
The French, as early as 1707, had their emissaries among the
Conestogas under the guise of traders, miners or colonists in an
effort to draw them away from their allegiance to the English.
Likewise, the colony of Maryland was pushing her pioneers over
the boundary, in an effort to forestall the claims of William Penn
by actual settlement.
In the month of June, 1707, Governor Evans, accompanied by
Colonel John French, William Tonge, and several other Friends,
and four servants, made a journey among the Susquehanna In-
dians, upon receiving a message from the Conestogas that the
Nanticokes, who now had been tributaries of the Five Nations for
twenty-seven years, intended journeying to the Onondagas in
New York. He visited the following places : Pequea, Dekanoagah
Conestoga, and Paxtang, near Harrisburg.
At Pequea, the Governor and his party were received by the
Shawnees with a discharge of firearms, and a conference was held,
on June 30th, with Opessah, in which the chief told the Governor
that he and his people were "happy to live in a country at peace,
and not as in those parts where we formerly lived, for then, upon
returning from hunting, we found our town surprised, and our
women and children taken prisoners by our enemies." While the
Governor was at Pequea, several Shawnees from the South came
to settle there, and were permitted to do so by Opessah, with the
Governor's consent.
At Dekanoagah, the Governor was present at a meeting of the
Shawnees, Conoys, and Nanticokes from seven of the surrounding
towns. After having satisfied himself that the Nanticokes were
a well meaning people, the Governor guaranteed them the pro-
tection of the Colony of Pennsylvania.
The Governor, having received information at Pequea that a
Frenchman, named Nicole, was holding forth among the Indians
at Paxtang, about whom he had received many complaints, and
having advised the chief at Paxtang of his intention to seize this
86 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
French trader, captured Nicole, after much difficulty, and, having
mounted him on a horse with his legs tied, conveyed him through
Tulpehocken and Manatawney, to Philadelphia, and lodged him
in jail.
The report of Governor Evans' trip is recorded in the Penn-
sylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 2, pages 386 to 390.
Troubles Between the Northern and the Southern Indians
Continue — Great Conferences at Conestoga
As was pointed out in Chapter II, the Tuscaroras began their
migration from the Carolinas and Virginia to the territory of the
Five Nations in New York, in 1712 or 1713, and were formally
admitted, in 1722, as a constituent part of the Iroquois Con-
federation. While the Tuscaroras were still living in their
southern home, they were bitter enemies of the Catawbas, and
their hatred did not abate upon their removing to New York.
Almost every summer after 1713, roving bands of the Tuscaroras
and other members of the Five Nations, followed the mountain
valleys through Pennsylvania to the South, on their way to attack
the Catawbas and Cherokees; and many Conestogas joined these
war parties. Some destruction was done by these bands within
the Province of Pennsylvania, but presently the Colonial Au-
thorities adopted the method of having the farmers, whose crops .
were injured, place their bill in the hands of the nearest justice of
the peace, who would, in turn, forward it to the Provincial Coun-
cil; and, at the next conference with the Indians, the Council
would deduct the amount of the bill from the present given to the
Indians at that conference. This method made Pennsylvania
practically free from ravages wrought by these bands. The colony
of Virginia, however, did not fare so well, and both lives and
property were destroyed by these bands of warriors from the
North.
These war parties of the Iroquois frequently made Conestoga
their stopping place on their way to and return from the territory
of the Catawbas and Cherokees, and many a captive Catawba
and Cherokee was tortured to death at Conestoga. Finally a
treaty of peace was made between the Conestogas and Catawbas,
on August 31st, 1715, but this did not put a stop to the expeditions
of the Iroquois against the Southern Indians.
In June, 1717, Governor William Keith received a message
from the Conestoga chief, Civility, and several other chiefs of the
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 87
Conestoga region, desiring him to visit them without delay to
consult about affairs of great importance. The Governor, ac-
cordingly, journeyed to Conestoga, in July, where he met the
chiefs of the Conestogas, Delawares, Shawnees, and Conoys, and
inquired of them the cause of their alarm. He ascertained that
about two months previously a young Delaware, son of a chief,
had been killed on one of the branches of the Potomac by a party
of Virginians accompanied by some Indians. These latter were
no doubt Catawbas, who, at that time, were at peace with
Virginia. At this meeting at Conestoga, Governor Keith brought
to the attention of the Indians that many complaints had been
made by the inhabitants of Virginia concerning the destruction
caused by the war parties of the Iroquois against the Catawbas;
and he reminded them of the fact that, although divided into
different colonies, the English were one people; that to injure or
make war upon one body of them was to make war upon all, and
that the Indians, therefore, must never molest or trouble any of
the English colonists, nor make war upon any Indians who were
in friendship with, or under the protection of, the English.
At this conference, Keith stressed the fact that recently a band
of Senecas had attacked some Catawbas near Fort Christian,
in the colony of Virginia, killing six and capturing a woman; and
he called upon the Indians of the Conestoga region to explain
their connection with this insult to Virginia. The Shawnee chief
told the Governor that six young men of this tribe had accom-
panied the party of Senecas who made the attack upon the Cataw-
bas, but explained that none of the six were present at the time
and place of this conference, "their settlements being much higher
up the Susquehanna River." The chief further stated that the
six Shawnees declared, upon their return, that they had nothing
to do with the attack upon the Catawbas.
Governor Keith closed the conference with the following stipu-
lations, quoted from the minutes of the conference:
"1st. That he expected their strict observance of all former
contracts of friendship made between them and the Govern-
ment of Pennsylvania.
"2dly. That they must never molest or disturb any of the
English Governments, nor make war upon any Indians whatso-
ever who are in friendship with and under the protection of the
English.
"3dly. That, in all cases of suspicion or danger, they must
88 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
advise and consult with this Government before they undertook
or determined any thing.
"4thly. That, if through accident any mischief of any sort
should happen to be done by the Indians to the English, or by the
English to them, then both parties should meet with hearty in-
tention of good will to obtain an acknowledgment of the mistake,
as well as to give or receive reasonable satisfaction.
"5thly. That, upon these terms and conditions, the Governor
did, in the name of their great and good friend, William Penn,
take them and their people under the same protection, and in the
same friendship with this Government, as William Penn himself
had formerly done, or could do now if he was here present.
"And the Governor hereupon did promise, on his part, to
encourage them in peace, and to nourish and support them like a
true friend and brother.
"To all which the several chiefs and their great men presently
assented, it being agreed, that, in testimony thereof, they should
rise up and take the Governor by the hand, which accordingly
they did with all possible marks of friendship in their countenance
and behaviour."
The chiefs taking part in these councils at Conestoga, in July,
1717, represented the Conestogas or Susquehannas, the Dela-
wares, the Shawnees and the Conoys. Peter Bezallion was the
interpreter. For a detailed account of the conferences, the reader
is referred to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3, pages
19 to 25.
In 1719, great difficulties arose concerning the hunting grounds
of the Northern and the Southern Indians. The Iroquois sent
out many war parties, which stopped at Conestoga on their way
south, and were joined by many of the Conestogas. These raids
into the Shenandoah Valley brought many white settlers of
Virginia and the Carolinas into hostility to the Iroquois; for these
colonies were then on friendly terms with the Catawbas and
Cherokees, against whom the raids were directed. In fact, a
general uprising of the settlers of Virginia and the Carolinas was
imminent. The Iroquois conducted their warfare on the Southern
Indians with great brutality, torturing many captives to death
at Conestoga and villages on the Susquehanna.
On receiving a letter from Civility and other chiefs at Cones-
toga advising that some of their Indians had been killed by the
Southern Indians, Governor Keith sent Colonel John French to
Conestoga, where a council was held on June 28th, 1719, with
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 89
Civility and Queen Canatowa of the Conestogas, "Wightomina,
King of the Delawares, Sevana, King of the Shawnees," who suc-
ceeded Opessah at Pequea, and "Winninchack, King of the Cana-
wages" [Conoys]. In the name of Governor Keith, Colonel
French made the following demands of Civility and the other
chiefs: That they should not receive the war parties of the
Tuscaroras, or any other tribes of the Five Nations, if coming to
their towns on their way to or return from the South; and that
they would have to answer to the Colonial Authorities, if any
prisoner were tortured by them. It appeared, however, that the
warriors of the Five Nations, on their way southward, practically
forced the young men of the Conestogas, Shawnees, and Conoy to
accompany them. As the conquerors of these tribes, the Iroquois
demanded their allegiance and help. The chiefs promised faith-
fully to obey the commands of Governor Keith, but the war went
on.
James Logan, Secretary of the Provincial Council, on June 27,
1720, held a conference at Conestoga with Civility and chiefs of
the Shawnees, Delawares, and Conoy, in an attempt to dissuade
these Indians from making raids into Virginia. Not long before,
ten Iroquois and two Shawnees had been killed by the Southern
Indians about one hundred and sixty miles from Conestoga. At
this conference, Logan learned that the Pequea Shawnees could
not be restrained from assisting the Iroquois, inasmuch as since
the departure of Opessah, no one could control them. True, the
Conestogas were answerable for the behavior of these Shawnees,
but Civility advised Logan that he "had only the name without
any authority, and could do nothing." Moreover, it was difficult
for Logan to impress upon the minds of these Indians the fact
that the English of Virginia and Maryland were not at war with
the English of Pennsylvania. They could not see why the Indians
in friendship with Pennsylvania should not go to war against the
Virginians, just as the Iroquois went to war against the Indians
of Virginia and the Carolinas.
At the close of the conference. Civility told Logan privately
that the Five Nations, especially the Cayugas, were much dis-
satisfied because of the large settlements the English were making
on the Susquehanna, and that the Iroquois claimed a property
right in those lands. As to the Iroquois' claim to a property right
in the Susquehanna lands, Logan told Civility that the Indians
well knew that the Iroquois had long before conveyed those lands
to the Governor of New York, and that William Penn had pru-
% THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
chased this right, as will be pointed out later in this chapter.
Civility acknowledged this fact.
Realizing the awful consequences of a general war between the
Iroquois and their allies, on the one side, and the Southern In-
dians on the other, involving the settlers of the South, Governor
Keith, in the spring of 1721, visited Governor Spotswood of
Virginia with whom he framed an agreement, by the terms of
which the tributary Indians of Virginia would not, in the future,
pass the Potomac nor "the high ridge of mountains extending
along the back of Virginia; provided that the Indians to the north-
ward of the Potomac and to the westward of those mountains"
would observe the same limits.
Governor Keith, accompanied by seventy armed horsemen,
visited Conestoga on July 5th, 1721, where he conferred, at
Civility's lodge, not only with the Conestogas but also with four
deputies of the Five Nations, who had recently arrived there,
telling the spokesman of the Five Nations, Ghesoant, that,
"whereas the English from a very small beginning had now be-
come a great people in the Western World, far exceeding the num-
ber of all the Indians, which increase was the fruit of peace
among themselves, the Indians continued to make war upon one
another and were destroying one another, as if it was their pur-
pose that none of them should be left alive." He called attention
to the suffering that their wars caused to the women and children
at home, and, in various ways, tried to mollify their warlike
passions, but stated that, if they were determined to continue
warfare, they must, in journeying to and from the South, take
another path lying farther to the west, and not pass through the
settled parts of the Province. The result of the conference was
the ratifying by the Conestogas and Five Nations of the agree-
ment arranged by Governor Keith and Governor Spotswood as
to the limits of the hunting grounds of the Virginia and the Penn-
sylvania Indians. Keith closed the conference by giving Ghesoant
a gold coronation medal of George, the First, which he asked him
to take as a token of friendship to the greatest chief of the Five
Nations, Kannygoodk. Thus, happily, the immediate danger of
a general Indian uprising was averted.
This was the most important Indian treaty ever held at Con-
estoga. Its details are recorded in the Pennsylvania Colonial
Records, Vol, 3, pages 121 to 130. Later, troubles came on apace
between the Iroquois and the Southern Indians, but the Iroquois
abandoned the Susquehanna route to the South, taking the
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 91
Warrior's Path, which crossed the Potomac at Old Town (Opes-
sah's Town), and, still later, when white settlers occupied the
valley along Warrior Ridge, a trail farther westward, crossing
the counties of Westmoreland and Fayette.
Sassoonan's Deed of Release
In the autumn of 1718, Sassoonan and several other chiefs of
the Delawares came to Philadelphia, claiming that they had not
been paid for their lands. Then, James Logan, secretary of the
Provincial Council, produced to them, in the presence of the
Council, a number of deeds, and convinced Sassoonan and his
brother chiefs that they were mistaken in their contention. Ac-
cordingly, Sassoonan and six other chiefs executed a release on
the 17th day of September, 1718, by the terms of which they
acknowledged that their ancestors had conveyed to William
Penn, in fee, all the land and had been paid for the same. By the
same instrument these Indians released all the land "between the
Delaware and the Susquehanna from Duck Creek [in Delaware]
to the mountains [the South Mountain] on this side of Lechay
[by the Lehigh River]."
At the time of executing this deed of release, Sassoonan was
living at Paxtang, and adjacent parts; but it is probable that
shortly thereafter he took up his abode at Shamokin (Sunbury),
which became his home for the remainder of his life.
Tawena and Springettsbury Manor
Tawena, a chief of the Conestogas, claims our remembrance on
account of his connection with the survey of Springettsbury
Manor, in June, 1722. At that time, the boundary line between
Pennsylvania and Maryland was still in dispute, and Maryland
settlers were encroaching on territory claimed by Pennsylvania.
In order to secure a right and title to the lands, in Pennsylvania
upon which these settlers had encroached, Governor William
Keith, before he went to attend the Albany treaty, or conference,
of September, 1722, conceived the. idea of obtaining permission
of the Indians along the lower Susquehanna to lay off a large
manor, and accordingly went to Conestoga, where, on June 15th
and 16th of that year, he held a conference with the Conestoga,
Shawnee and Conoy chiefs, telling them of the encroachments of
the Marylanders in what is now York County, and suggesting
92 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the plan to take up a large tract of land on the west side of the
Susquehanna for Springett Penn, grandson of the founder of th*>
Province. Keith spoke at great length and with great earnestness.
He told the Indians that the grandson had the same kind of heart
as his grandfather had, and that he would be glad to give the
Indians a part of the land for their use and occupation. He
further said that the land should be marked with Springett Penn's
name upon the trees, so that the Maryland people would then
keep off, and that such marking would prevent all white persons
from settling near enough the Indians to disturb them.
Owing to the love of these Indians for William Penn, Governor
Keith won his point. They replied through Tawena, agreeing to
give up the land, but requesting that the Governor take up the
matter further with the Cayugas when he would attend the
Albany conference. However, they requested that the land be
surveyed at once. The warrant was made out, and John French,
Francis Worley and James Mitchell surveyed the tract on June
20th and 21st. It was named Springettsbury Manor, and con-
tained 75,520 acres, according to the survey. The boundary
line began opposite the mouth of Conestoga Creek, and ran south-
west ten miles, thence northwest twelve miles to a point north of
the present city of York, thence northeast to the Susquehanna
River, thence along this stream to the place of beginning. The
Marylanders paid no attention to the survey. The Manor was
surveyed again, in 1768.
The warrant and survey were not returned to the land office,
and the entire transaction appears to have been done under the
private seal of Governor Keith. Nor was any actual purchase
made from the Indians, at the conference of June 15th and 16th,
1722. Springett Penn held whatever title he had in trust for the
proprietaries.
The Threatened Uprising of 1728
On May 6, 1728, Governor Gordon advised the Provincial
Council that he had recently received a letter from John Wright,
a trader, at Conestoga, stating that two Conestogas had been
murdered by several of the Shawnees in that neighborhood, and
that the Conestogas seemed to be preparing to declare war on the
Shawnees, in retaliation. The Governor also advised the Council,
at this time, that he had received a petition signed by a great
number of the settlers in the back parts of Lancaster County,
setting forth that they were under great apprehension of being
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 93
attacked by the Indians, and that many families had left their
homes through fear of an Indian uprising. Wright further in-
formed the Governor, in his letter, that the Shawnees had brought
the Shawnee murders as far as Peter Chartier's house, at which
place the party engaged in much drinking, and, through the
connivance of Chartier, the two Shawnee murderers escaped. It
is not surprising that Chartier let the murderers escape, as he him-
self was a half blood Shawnee. He was at that time trading at
Pequea Creek. His action so incensed the Conestogas that they
threatened to destroy all the Shawnees in that region.
Almost at the same time that the murder of the Conestogas
occurred, the settlers along the valley of the Schuylkill became
much alarmed for their safety from another quarter. Kako-
watcheky, who was the head of the Shawnees living at Pecho-
quealin, in what is now lower Smithfield Township, Monroe
County, claimed that he had learned that the Flatheads, or
Catawbas, from North Carolina, had entered Pennsylvania with
the intention of striking the Indians along the Susquehanna; and
he, accordingly, led eleven warriors to ascertain the truth of this
rumor, who, when they came into the neighborhood of the Dur-
ham Iron Works, near Manatawny, in the northern part of Berks
County, their provisions failed, and they forced the settlers to
give them food and drink. The settlers did not know these
Indians, and believing the chief of the band to be a Spanish
Indian, they were in great terror; families fled from their planta-
tions and women and children suffered greatly from exposure,
as the weather was raw and cold. There seems to be little doubt
that Kakowatcheky was leading this band to Paxtang to assist
the Shawnees of that place, who had been threatened by the
Conestogas on account of the above mentioned murder of the
two Conestogas.
A band of about twenty settlers took up arms and approached
the invaders, sending two of their number to treat with the chief,
who, instead of receiving them civilly, brandished his sword, and
commanded his men to fire, which they did, and wounded two of
the settlers. The settlers thereupon returned the fire, upon which
the chief fell, but afterwards got up and ran into the woods, leav-
ing his gun behind him. The identity of this Indian band was not
known until May 20th, when two traders from Pechoquealin,
John Smith and Nicholas Schonhoven, came to Governor Gordon
and delivered to him a message from Kakowatcheky, explaining
the unfortunate affair, sending his regrets, and asking the Gover-
94 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
nor for the return of the gun which he dropped when wounded.
The Governor, then, accompanied by many citizens of Phila-
delphia,went to the troubled district, and personally pleaded with
those settlers who had left their plantations to return. He found
them so excited that they seemed ready to kill Indians of both
sexes, but finally succeeded in pacifying them.
The Governor was about ready to return home when he
received the melancholy news from Samuel Nut that an Indian
man and two women were cruelly murdered, on May 20th, at
Cucussea, then in Chester County, by John and Walter Winters,
without any provocation whatever, and two Indian girls badly
wounded ; upon which a hue was immediately issued in an effort
to apprehend the murderers. It appeared from investigation
that, on the day of this murder, an Indian man, two women, and
two girls, appeared at John Roberts' house, and that their neigh-
bors noticing this, rallied to their defense, shot the man and one
of the women, beat out the brains of the other woman, and
wounded the girls, their excuse being that the Indian had put an
arrow into his bow, and that they, having heard reports that some
settlers had been killed by Indians, believed that the settlers
might lawfully kill any Indian they could find.
The murderers were apprehended and placed in jail at Chester,
for trial. A message was then sent to Sassoonan, Opekasset, and
Manawkyhickon, acquainting them with the unhappy affair and
requesting them to come to Conestoga, where a treaty would be
held with Chief Civility and the other Indians at that place. The
Provincial Council being apprehensive that this barbarous mur-
der would stir up the Indians to take revenge on the settlers, a
commission was appointed to get the inhabitants together and
put them in a state to defend themselves. This commission con-
sisted of John Pawling, Marcus Hulings, and Mordecai Lincoln,
the great-great-grandfather of Abraham Lincoln, whose home
was about ten miles east of the present town of Reading. Hav-
ing sent Kakowatcheky the gun he had dropped, as well as the
tomahawks dropped by his eleven warriors when they fled from
the band of twenty settlers, as related above, together with a
request that he warn the Indians under his authority to be more
careful in the future, the Governor, accompanied by thirty resi-
dents of Philadelphia, met the Indians at a council at Conestoga
on the 26th of May, where he conferred with Civility and other
Conestoga, Shawnee, Conoy, and Delaware chiefs, made them
many presents, and promised to punish the two murderers, if
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 95
found guilty. John and Walter Winters were subsequently tried,
found guilty, and hanged for the murder of the Indian man and
two women.
At this point, the author desires to say that, in no work on
Abraham Lincoln or his ancestry, has he been able to find a
reference to the fact that the Great Emancipator's ancestor,
Mordecai Lincoln, was a man of such ability and prominence as
to be appointed by the Governor and Provincial Council of
Pennsylvania as one of the three members of the important com-
mission whose duty it was to place the Province in a state of
defense during the threatened Indian uprising in 1728, For the
account of Mordecai Lincoln's appointment, the reader is referred
to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3, page 304.
Sassoonan and the Tulpehocken Lands
At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held on June 5th, 1728
and reported in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3,
pages 318 to 321, the great Delaware chief, Sassoonan, or Al-
lummapees, then residing at Shamokin (Sunbury), complained
that the Palatines (immigrants from Germany) were settling on
lands in the valley of the Tulpehocken, in Berks and Lebanon
Counties, which, he claimed, had not been purchased from the
Indians. These particular Palatines had first settled in the
Schoharie Valley in New York, where they endured much suf-
fering. When Governor Keith attended the Albany Conference,
the hardships of these Germans were brought to his attention;
whereupon his interest and sympathy were aroused, and he
offered them a home in Pennsylvania. The next year (1723)
some of these Palatines emigrated from New York to the Tulpe-
hocken Valley, but a much greater number, about fifty families,
came in 1727. They descended the Susquehanna to the mouth of
Swatara Creek, in Dauphin County. Ascending this stream and
crossing the divide between the Susquehanna and the Schuylkill,
they entered the fertile and charming valley of the Tulpehocken.
They had scarcely erected their rude cabins and commenced to
plant their little patches of corn in the clearings in the wilderness,
when the Indians of the neighborhood informed them that this
land had never been purchased by the Pennsylvania Govern-
ment. The Indians were much surprised that these settlers
should be permitted to take up their abode on unpurchased land.
96 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
"Surely," said they, "if Brother Onas were living, such things
would never happen."
At this conference, Sassoonan said that he could not have be-
lieved that these lands were settled upon, if he had not gone there
and seen the settlements with his own eyes. In the minutes of the
conference, we read: "He (Sassoonan) said he was grown old
and was troubled to see the Christians settle on lands that the
Indians had never been paid for; they had settled on his lands for
which he had never received anything. That he is now an old
man, and must soon die; that his children may wonder to see all
their father's lands gone from them without his receiving any-
thing for them; that the Christians now make their settlements
very near them (the Indians); and they shall have no place of
their own left to live on ; that this may occasion a difference be-
tween their children and us, and he would willingly prevent any
misunderstanding that may happen."
Governor Gordon suggested to Sassoonan that possibly the
lands in dispute had been included in some of the other purchases;
but Sassoonan and his brother chiefs replied that no lands had
ever been sold northwest of the Blue Ridge, then called the
Lehigh Hills. This conference did not succeed in settling the
matter of these settlements in the Tulpehocken Valley. The
matter dragged along until 1732, when Sassoonan, Elalapis,
Ohopamen, Pesqueetamen, Mayemoe, Partridge, and Tepakoas-
set, on behalf of themselves and all other Indians having a right
in the lands, in consideration of 20 brass kettles, 20 fine guns, 50
tomahawks, 60 pairs of scissors, 24 looking glasses, 20 gallons of
rum, and various other articles so acceptable to the Indians, con-
veyed unto John Penn, Thomas Penn, and Richard Penn, pro-
prietors of the Province, all those lands "situate, lying and being
on the River Schuylkill and the branches thereof, between the
mountains called Lechaig (Lehigh) to the south, and the hills or
mountains, called Keekachtanemin, on the north, and between
the branches of the Delaware River on the east, and the waters
falling into the Susquehanna River on the west," — a grant which
embraced the valley of the Tulpehocken. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 1,
pages 344 to 346.)
Sassoonan was head chief of the Turtle Clan of Delawares from
a date prior to June 14th, 1715 until his death in the autumn of
1747. By some very high authorities, it is claimed that he was a
son of Tamanend and, as a little boy, was with his father at the
"Great Treaty" at Shackamaxon. These authorities make
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 07
Sassoonan identical with "Weheequeckhon, alias Andrew," who
as stated in Chapter II, joined with his father, Tamanend, his
two brothers, and his uncle, in conveying to William Penn, on
the fifth day of July, 1697, certain lands between the Pennypack
and Neshaminy Creeks, and whom Tamanend describes in the
deed, as, "my son who is to be king after my death."
At a meeting of the Provincial Council, held in August, 1731,
and reported in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3, pages
404 to 406, the frequent complaints made by the Indians on ac-
count of the large quantities of rum being carried to them by the
traders, were taken up. The Council's attention was called to the
fact that the pernicious liquor traffic had recently caused a very
unhappy incident in the family of Sassoonan. In a fit of drunken-
ness, he had killed his nephew, (some authorities say his cousin)
Shackatawlin, at their dwelling place at Shamokin, now Sunbury.
Sassoonan's grief over the unhappy incident was so great that it
almost cost him his life. It was at this meeting of the Provincial
Council that the great Shikellamy, who accompanied Sassoonan,
issued an ultimatum to the Colonial Authorities that, if the
liquor traffic among the Indians were not better regulated, friend-
ly relations between Pennsylvania and the powerful Confedera-
tion of the Six Nations would cease.
At Shamokin, on the banks of the beautiful Susquehanna, in
the autumnal days of 1747, the aged Sassoonan, who had done
so much to preserve the friendship that William Penn established
with the Indians, yielded up his soul to the Great Spirit. Great
changes in the relations between the Delawares and the Colony
had taken place during the span of his life, and still greater
changes were destined to come. In life's morning and noontide,
he beheld the Delawares contented and happy in the bond of affec-
tion between them and "Onas;" yet, before the night had come,
his dim eyes saw on the horizon the gathering clouds of the storm
that, in the autumn of 1755, broke with fury upon the land of
his birth.
Efforts to Have the Shawnees Return and
the Treaty of 1732
As has been seen in a former chapter, the abuses of the liquor
traffic among the Shawnees were among the causes which forced a
large number of this tribe to migrate from the Susquehanna to
the Ohio and Allegheny valleys several years prior to 1730, when
98 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
French emissaries, coming from Canada, seized upon this op-
portunity to alienate the Shawnees from the Enghsh interest.
Therefore, Governor Gordon at a council held at Philadelphia on
August 16th, 1731, decided to adopt the suggestion of Secretary
James Logan that a treaty be arranged with the Six Nations "to
renew and maintain the same good-will and friendship for the
Five Nations which the Honorable William Penn always expressed
to them in his lifetime," and to prevail upon the Six Nations to
assist in holding the Shawnees in their allegiance to the English.
Accordingly, at this same conference, it was decided to send
Shikellamy, "a trusty, good man and a great lover of the Eng-
lish" to Onondaga, the capital of the Six Nations, to invite them
to send deputies to Philadelphia to arrange a treaty.
In keeping with Pennsylvania's efforts to retain the friendship
of the Shawnees on the Allegheny, Governor Gordon sent them a
message in December, 1731, reminding them of the benefits they
had received from William Penn and his successors, while they
lived in the eastern part of the Province, to which message
Neucheconneh and other Shawnee chiefs on the Allegheny, re-
plied in their letter to the Governor, of June, 1732, giving the
reasons why they had removed from the Susquehanna.
In the autumn of 1731, a tract of land, called the "Manor of
Conodoguinet" and located on the west side of the Susquehanna
between Conodoguinet and Yellow Breeches Creeks, was set aside
for the Shawnees in an effort to induce those of this tribe who had
gone to the Ohio and Allegheny, to return to the Susquehanna.
Peter Chartier conveyed this information to the Shawnees on the
Ohio, but they still refused to return to the eastern part of the
Province.
Shikellamy returned to Philadelphia from his journey to
Onondaga, on December 10th, 1731, accompanied by a Cayuga
chief named Cehachquely, and Conrad Weiser and John Scull as
interpreters. He reported that the Six Nations were very much
pleased to hear from the Governor of Pennsylvania, but that, as
winter was now coming on and their chiefs were too old to make
such a fatiguing journey in the winter time, they would come to
Philadelphia in the spring to meet the Governor and enter into
a treaty.
On his way to meet the Governor at this time, Shikellamy
stopped at the home of Conrad Weiser, near Womelsdorf, in the
present county of Berks, took him along to Philadelphia and
introduced him to Governor Gordon as "an adopted son of the
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 99
Mohawk Nation;" and as this conference (December 10, 1731,) is
Weiser's first connection with the Indian affairs of Pennsylvania,
it will be well to pause long enough, at this point, to give a short
sketch of the history of this noted man of the frontier, who later
had so much to do with bringing about the ascendency of the
Anglo-Saxon in the Western World.
This sturdy German was born at Afsteadt, in Herrenberg, near
Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1696. At the age of thirteen, he ac-
companied his father to America, and, for several years, assisted
him in making tar and raising hemp on Livingston Manor, New
York. The Weiser family spent the winter of 1713 and 1714 with
several of the Iroquois at Schenectady, New York, where Conrad
doubtless secured his first lessons in the Iroquois tongue. In the
spring of 1714, he accompanied his father to the Schoharie Valley,
where they endured much hardship in company with the other
Palatines in that valley. When he was seventeen years old,
young Weiser went to live with Quagnant, a prominent Iroquois
chief, who, taking a great fancy to Conrad, requested the father
that the young man might dwell with him for a time. He re-
mained with the Iroquois chief for eight months, learning the
Iroquois language and customs thoroughly, and was adopted by
them.
In 1729, Conrad Weiser and his young wife went from New
York to the Tulpehocken Valley, Pennsylvania, where, as has
been related, a number of Palatines from the Schoharie Valley had
settled, in 1727. The young couple built their home about one
mile east of Womelsdorf, Berks County, where Weiser continued
to reside until a few years before his death, when he removed to
Reading. It is said that while on a hunting trip he met the great
Iroquois chief, Shikellamy, the vice-gerent of the Six Nations,
who was well pleased with Weiser on account of his being able to
speak the Iroquois tongue, and they became fast friends.
While visiting his old home near Womelsdorf, he died July
13, 1760, much lamented by the Colony of Pennsylvania as well as
by the Indians. Said a great Iroquois chieftain, commenting on
the death of Weiser: "We are at a loss, and sit in darkness."
If all white men had been as just to the Indians as was this
sturdy German, the history of the advance of civilization in
America undoubtedly would not contain so many bloody chapters.
Conrad Weiser's home is still standing, and in the orchard above
the house, rests all that is mortal of this distinguished frontiers-
man; while beside him are the graves of several Indian chiefs.
100 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Having loved him in life, they wished to repose beside him in
death. A beautiful monument has been erected to his memory
in the "Conrad Weiser Memorial Park," near Womelsdorf, hav-
ing thereon the words which George Washington uttered concern-
ing him, while standing at his grave, in 1793:
"Posterity Will Not Forget His Services."*
The Six Nations, no doubt mistrusting the motives of the
English, failed to send deputies to Philadelphia in the spring of
1732, as they had promised Shikellamy. In the meantime,
traders in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny reported that the
French were rapidly gaining the friendship of the Shawnees in the
Ohio Valley; that these Indians complained bitterly about the
great quantities of rum brought to them by the English traders ;
and that they would have declared war against the English, on
this account, save for the influence of Peter Chartier. The
Shawnees said, furthermore, that it had been only five years since
the Six Nations themselves had endeavored to persuade the Ohio
Indians to declare war on the English. In view of these facts,
there was much anxiety on the part of the Provincial Council of
Pennsylvania, over the failure of the deputies of the Six Nations
to make their appearance in Philadelphia in the spring of 1732.
Finally, on August 18th, 1732 the deputies of the Six Nations
arrived, consisting of a number of Oneida, Cayuga, and Onondaga
chiefs, among whom was the celebrated Shikellamy. A few days'
time being given the chiefs in which to refresh themselves after
their long and toilsome journey, the famous treaty of August 23rd
to September 2nd, 1732, was entered into between the Six Nations
and the Colony of Pennsylvania.
We have stated that Secretary James Logan suggested this
treaty; but Logan's knowledge of the influence and importance of
the Six Nations and their power over the Shawnees, Delawares
and other tributary tribes, was gotten from Conrad Weiser. Not
until the coming of Weiser did the Colony fully realize the im-
portance of this powerful confederation.
The deputies of the Six Nations, who arrived in Philadelphia
some days before the opening of the conference, as we have seen,
were chiefs of only the Oneida, Cayuga, and Onondaga tribes; but
they claimed that they were authorized to speak for the other
members of the Iroquois Confederation. In the early stages of
the conference, complaints were made, possibly by members of
the Assembly, against the private nature of the council; and
Conrad Weiser, the interpreter, was selected to interview the
* Weiser was the grandfather of the Lutheran clergyman and noted Revolutionary General,
Peter Muhlenberg, about whom the poet, Read, wrote "The Rising of 1776."
ABOVE — Monument to Conrad Weiser, Indian Interpreter of the Colony of Pennsylvania,
in Conrad Weiser Memorial Park, near Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pa.
BELOW^Home of Conrad Weiser, in Conrad Weiser Memorial Park, erected about 1732.
Here the famous clergyman, Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, D. D., founder of the Lutheran
Church in America, for whom Muhlenberg College, at Allentown, Pa., is named, wooed and won
Weiser's daughter, Anna.
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 101
Iroquois deputies to learn their pleasure in the matter. The chiefs
replied that they were content to continue in secret session, but
were willing to deal in a more public manner, if such was desired.
Thomas Penn, son of the founder of the Colony, having lately
arrived in Philadelphia, spoke for the Province. He called the
attention of the chiefs to the policy which his father had pursued
in dealing with the Indians, and assured them that he came to
the Province with a desire and design to follow in the footsteps
of his parent. He then asked the Iroquois deputies how their
Confederation stood toward the French, their former enemies.
He inquired how the French behaved toward the Six Nations,
and how all the other nations of Indians to the northward or the
westward were affected toward the Iroquois.
The Iroquois deputies replied through their speaker, Heta-
quantagechty, that they had no great faith in the governor of
Canada, or the French, who had deceived them. "The Six
Nations," said they, "are not afraid of the French. They are
always willing to go and hear what they have to propose. Peace
had been made with the French. A tree had been planted big
enough to shelter them both. Under this tree, a hole had been
dug, and the hatchets had been buried therein. Nevertheless, the
chiefs of the Six Nations thought that the French charged too
much for their goods, and, for this reason, they recommended
their people to trade with the English, who would sell cheaper
than the French." The deputies confided to the Governor that,
when representatives of the Six Nations were at Montreal, in
1727, the governor of Canada told them that he intended to make
war upon Corlear (the term applied to the governors of New
York), and that he desired the Six Nations to remain neutral. On
this occasion, one of the chiefs answered, saying: "Onontejo [the
Indian name for the governor of Canada], you are very proud.
You are not wise to make war with Corlear, and to propose
neutrality to us. Corlear is our brother; he came to us when he
was very little and a child. We suckled him at our breasts; we
have nursed him and taken care of him till he is grown up to be a
man. He is our brother and of the same blood. He and we have
but one ear to hear with, one eye to see with, and one mouth to
speak with. We will not forsake him nor see any man make war
upon him without assisting. We shall join him, and, if we fight
with you, we may have our own father, Onontejo, to bury in the
ground. We would not have you force us to this, but be wise and
live in peace."
102 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
The Iroquois deputies were told, through Conrad Weiser, that
the Shawnees who were settled to the southward, being made un-
easy by their neighbors, had come up to Conestoga about thirty-
five years before, and desired leave of the Conestoga Indians
located at that place, to settle in the neighborhood; that the
Conestogas applied to the Government of Pennsylvania that the
Shawnees might be permitted to settle there, and that they would
become answerable for their good behavior; that William Penn,
shortly after the arrival of the Shawnees, agreed to their settle-
ment, and the Shawnees thereupon came under the protection of
the Pennsylvania Colony; that, from that time, greater numbers
of the Shawnee Indians followed, settling upon the Susquehanna
and the Delaware. The deputies were further told that the
Colony of Pennsylvania had held several treaties with the Shaw-
nets, treating them from their first coming as "our own Indians,"
but that some of their young men, four or five years previously,
being afraid of the Six Nations, had removed to the Allegheny
Valley, and put themselves under the protection of the French,
who had received them as children; that the Colony had sent a
message asking them to return, and to encourage them, had laid
out a large tract of land on the west side of the Susquehanna near
Paxtang, and desired, by all means, that they would return to
that place.
The Iroquois answered that they never had intended to harm
the Shawnees, and that, as they were coming on their way to
Philadelphia, they had spoken with Kakowatcheky, their (the
Shawnees') old chief, then at Wyoming, and told him that he
should not "look to Ohio, but turn his face to us." They had met
Sassoonan, too, the old chief of the Delawares, then at Shamokin,
and told him that the Delawares, too, should not settle in the
Ohio and Allegheny valleys, upon which Sassoonan had sent
messengers to the Delawares lately gone to the Ohio and Alle-
gheny Valleys, requiring them to return. It will be remembered
that, in the times of which we are writing, and for a long period
thereafter, the Allegheny River was considered simply as a con-
tinuation of the Ohio, and was generally called the Ohio.
The deputies were then told that, as they were the chiefs of
all the northern Indians in the Province, and the Shawnees had
been under their protection, they should oblige them to return
nearer the Pennsylvania settlements; whereupon the chiefs asked
if the Six Nations should do this themselves, or join with the
Authorities of Pennsylvania. They were told that it was the de-
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 103
sire of the Pennsylvania Colony that the Six Nations should join
with the Colonial Authorities in efforts to have the Shawnees
return.
The representatives of the Six Nations told the Governor that
they believed that they could bring the Shawnees back, if Penn-
sylvania would prohibit her traders from going to the Allegheny
Valley, explaining that, as long as the Shawnees were supplied at
that place with such goods as they needed, they would be more
unwilling to remove. It was finally agreed that Pennsylvania
would remove such traders, and that the Six Nations would see
that the French traders in the Ohio region were also removed.
The main purpose of this treaty was to secure the aid of the
Six Nations in efforts to bring the Shawnees from the Allegheny
Valley; but it contained other provisions, notably the one obligat-
ing the Six Nations to "forbid all their warriors, who are often too
unruly, to come amongst or near the English settlements, and
especially that they never, on any account, rob, hurt, or molest
any English subjects whatsoever, either to the Southward or else-
where."
The Iroquois delegation having requested that, in their future
dealings with Pennsylvania, Conrad Weiser should continue to be
the interpreter, this request was granted, and the conference came
to an end by the giving of many presents to the deputies, among
which were six japanned and gilt guns, which were to be delivered
one to each chief of the Six Nations. These guns were the gift of
Thomas Penn, which he had brought with him from England for
this purpose.
A full account of the Treaty of 1732, the first treaty to bring
the powerful Confederation of the Six Nations into definite rela-
tions with Pennsylvania, is found in the Pennsylvania Colonial
Records, Vol. 3, pages 435 to 452. The Six Nations were faithful
to their promise, in this treaty, to induce the Shawnees of the
Allegheny Valley to take up their abode in the Valley of the Sus-
quehanna. They used every means short of war, to accomplish
this result, but in vain.
One of the efforts of the Six Nations to induce the Shawnees of
the Ohio and Allegheny valleys to return to the eastern part of
the Province is recorded in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 3, pages 607 to
609. At a meeting of the Provincial Council, September 10th,
1735, Hetaquantagechty, a Seneca chief, and Shikellamy gave
the Council a report concerning a mission the Six Nations had
sent to the Hathawekela or Asswikales Clan of Shawnees, urging
104 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
them to take up their abode near the Susquehanna. Heta-
quantagechty said that a great chief of the Iroquois, named
Sagohandechty, who Hved on the Allegheny went with other
chiefs of the Six Nations in 1 734 to prevail upon the Shawnees to
return. Sagohandechty pressed the Shawnees so closely to return
that they took a great dislike to him, and some months after the
other chiefs had returned, they cruelly murdered him. Heta-
quantagetchty said that this murder had been committed by
the Asswikales, who then fled southward, and as he supposed had
returned "to the place from whence they first came, which is below
Carolina." Hetaquantagechty described them as "one tribe of
those Shawnees who had never behaved themselves as they
ought," The Asswikales were probably the first Shawnees to
settle in Western Pennsylvania within historic times, coming by
way of Old Town, Maryland, to Bedford, and then westward.
Sewickley Creek, in Westmoreland County, Sewickley Town, at
the mouth of that creek, and another placed called Sewickley Old
Town, which some authorities locate on the Allegheny River some
miles below Chartier's Old Town, (Tarentum), were their places
of residence.
The Treaty of 1736
At the instigation of Shikellamy and Conrad Weiser, the
Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania were very anxious to have
the treaty of August, 1732, confirmed by deputies representing all
the members of the Iroquois Confederation, and Conrad Weiser
was directed to employ his influence with Shikellamy to the end
that these two mediators between the Colony of Pennsylvania and
Great Council of the Six Nations might bring about a conference
that would represent every member of that great Confederation.
The summers came and went, and still the promised visit of the
Iroquois was deferred. Finally, at a conference of Delaware and
Conestoga chiefs, among whom were Sassoonan, representing the
Delawares, and Civility, representing the Conestogas, held at
Philadelphia on August 20, 1736, an appeal was made to them to
explain why the Iroquois did not send deputies to Philadelphia,
as they had promised. Sassoonan said that he knew nothing
particularly of the Iroquois; that he had been in expectation to
see them for three years past, but understood that they had been
detained by nations that came to treat with them. He further
stated that he expected that they would be on hand the next
spring. The Provincial Council made a very liberal present to
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 105
the Delawares and Conestogas on the occasion of this conference,
accompanying it with the special request that they make an effort
to ascertain from the Six Nations why they had not sent their
deputies as they promised the preceding year, or at least to send
a message stating the reasons for their delay.
This present to the Delawares had the desired effect, and in
less than six weeks thereafter, Conrad Weiser sent word to the
Provincial Council from his home near Womelsdorf , in the Tulpe-
hocken Valley, that he had received intelligence that one hundred
chiefs, representing all members of the Iroquois Confederation,
had arrived at Shamokin (Sunbury) on their way to Philadelphia.
On the 27th of September, Weiser arrived at Philadelphia, accom-
panied by this delegation of one hundred Iroquois. At this time,
smallpox was raging in Philadelphia, on account of which Weiser
took the Indians to James Logan's mansion at Stenton, a few miles
from the city (now in the Twenty-second Ward, Philadelphia),
and invited the provincial officers and proprietors out to meet
them. The Indians were greatly pleased with Weiser's care for
their health, and the esteem in which they held him increased by
this act of solicitation on his part. The Iroquois had told the
Colonial Authorities at the treaty of 1732 that Weiser and Shikel-
lamy were the proper persons "to go between the Six Nations and
this government." They said that their bodies were to be equally
divided between "the Sons of Onas and the Red Men, half to the
Indian and half to the white man." Weiser, said they, was faith-
ful, honest, good, and true; that he had spoken their words for
them and not his own.
The Iroquois delegation, by far the largest that ever appeared
at Philadelphia at a treaty, was entertained for three nights at
Stenton. The sessions of the different conferences connected
with the making of this treaty lasted until the 25th of October.
They were held in the great meeting house at Fifth and Arch
Streets. The Iroquois deputies reported that, following the sug-
gestion of the Provincial Council at the treaty of 1732, they had
strengthened their confederation by entering into firm leagues of
friendship and alliance with other nations around them, to-wit:
Onichkaryagoes, Sissaghees, Troumurtihagas, Attawantenies,
Twechtwese, and Oachtaumghs. All these tribes, said the depu-
ties, had promised to acknowledge the Iroquois as their elder
brother and to act in concert with them.
The Iroquois deputies made the request that the Pennsylvania
traders be removed from the Ohio and Allegheny country, but the
106 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Provincial Council politely refused this request, arguing that its
Indians there could not live without being supplied with goods,
and that, if the Pennsylvania traders did not supply them with
goods others from Maryland and Virginia would. The Iroquois
also asked that no strong drink be sold at Allegheny by the
traders. This petition was evaded. James Logan, President of
the Council, upon which the administration of the government
devolved since the death of Governor Gordon, on August 5th,
1736, rebuked the Indians for not controlling their appetite for
rum. "All of us here," said he, "and all you see of any credit in
this place, can every day have as much rum of their own to drink as
they please, and yet scarce one of us will take a dram, at least
not one man will, on any account, be drunk, no, not if he were
hired to it with great sums of money."
But the most important part of this treaty was the execution
and delivery of two deeds by the Iroquois to the Proprietaries of
the Province of Pennsylvania — a momentous transaction brought
about by that astute Iroquois statesman, Shikellamy, assisted by
Conrad Weiser.
The first was a deed to all the lands on both sides of the Sus-
quehanna, extending as far east as the heads of the streams run-
ning into the Susquehanna, as far west "as the setting of the sun"
(afterwards interpreted by the Indians to mean as far as the crest
of the Allegheny Mountains), as far south as the mouth of the
Susquehanna, and as far north as the Blue, Kittatinny, or Endless
Mountains.
The following is the interesting history of these Susquehanna
lands :
By deed dated September 10th, 1683, the Conestoga or Sus-
quehanna chief, Kekelappan, conveyed to William Penn "that
half of all my lands betwixt the Susquehanna and Delaware,
which lieth on the Susquehanna side." Then, on October 18th,
1683, the Conestoga chief, Machaloha, who claimed to exercise
authority over the Indians "on the Delaware River, Chesapeake
Bay and up to ye falls of ye Susquehanna River," conveyed to
Penn his right in his lands. Penn thought it advisable to get the
consent of the Five Nations to his possession of these lands, no
doubt knowing that the Five Nations had conquered the Sus-
quehannas. Accordingly he sent agents to confer with the Iro-
quois chiefs in New York, and also wrote acting Governor Brock-
holls of New York, "about some Susquehanna land on ye back of
us, where I intend a colony forthwith." About the time of his
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 107
writing Governor Brockholls, Governor Thomas Dongan dis-
placed Brockholls, Governor Dongan persuaded some of the
Iroquois chiefs to give him a deed for these same lands. This he
did, in order to get the matter in his own hands. Then, in the
late autumn of 1683, he wrote Penn, advising him of the pur-
chase and saying that he and Penn would not "fall out" over the
matter. Thus the matter stood until January 13th, 1696, on
which date Penn got a deed of lease and release from Dongan for
the lands. In order to get indisputable title to these lands, Penn,
on September 13th, 1700, concluded a treaty with Oretyagh and
Andaggy-Junkquagh, chiefs of the Susquehannas or Conestogas,
by the terms of which they ratified Dongan's deed to Penn. This
sale was further confirmed in the "Articles of Agreement" of
April 23d, 1701, between Penn and the Five Nations, Susque-
hannas, Shawnees and Conoys. However, the Iroquois contended
that they had deeded the Susquehanna lands to Dongan simply
in trust and did not release any control over or rights in the same.
At the time of this treaty of 1736, the Colonial Authorities of
Pennsylvania were impressed by Conrad Weiser with the power
and influence of the Six Nations, and, accordingly, did not dis-
pute with their deputies when they claimed indemnity for all the
Susquehanna lands south and east of the Blue Mountains.
The consideration of the deed for these lands, dated October
11th, 1736, was 500 pounds of powder, 600 pounds of lead, 45
guns, 100 blankets, 200 yards of cloth, 100 shirts, 40 hats, 40
pairs of shoes and buckles, 40 pairs of stockings, 100 hatchets,
500 knives, 100 hoes, 100 tobacco tongs, 100 scissors, 500 awls,
120 combs 2000 needles, 1000 flints, 20 looking glasses, 2 pounds
of Vermillion, 100 tin pots, 25 gallons of rum, 200 pounds of
tobacco, 1000 pipes, and 24 dozens of garters. That part of these
goods which represented the consideration for the lands on the
east side of the Susquehanna, was delivered, but that which rep-
resented the consideration for the lands on the west side of the
river, was, at the Indians' desire, retained, and was finally
delivered in 1742.
Shikellamy and twenty-two other chiefs of the Onondagas,
Senecas, Oneidas, Tuscaroras and Cayugas, all the allied tribes
of the great Iroquois Confederation, except the Mohawks, signed
this deed, a copy of which is recorded in the Pennsylvania
Archives, Vol. 1, pages 494 to 498.
The sale of the Susquehanna lands greatly off'ended the
Shawnees. When this tribe came to Pennsylvania, they were
108 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
given permission by the Iroquois to live on these lands. There-
fore, when the Shawnees learned of the treaty of 1736, they sent
one hundred and thirty of their leaders with a belt to the French,
saying; "Our lands have been sold from under our feet; may we
come and live with you?" The French readily consented, and
ofTered to come and meet them with provisions. This informa-
tion came from the Mohawks, who received no share of the ar-
ticles given for the lands. Indeed, this sale of the Susquehanna
lands had much to do with bringing about finally the total
alienation of the Shawnees from the English cause. Conrad
Weiser, the advisor of the Pennsylvania authorities, had a great
love and admiration for the Iroquois, but little or no respect for
the Shawnees, and it was his opinion that the Province would
establish a dangerous precedent, if it were to recognize the claims
of the Shawnees to these lands, inasmuch as they were only so-
journers on the same.
But the sale of the Susquehanna lands involved Maryland and
Virginia, which colonies had never paid the Iroquois for the lands
in their dominions to which the Iroquois claimed title as the
conquerors of the tribes formerly owing them. As we shall see,
this matter was adjusted at the Lancaster Treaty of 1744 by the
purchase of these lands by Maryland and Virginia.
On October 25th, just two weeks after the signing of the deed
of the Susquehanna lands, when most of the influential deputies
of the Iroquois had left Philadelphia, and after those who re-
mained had been drinking heavily, another deed was drawn up
embracing all the Six Nations' claim to lands within Pennsylvania
"beginning eastward on the River Delaware, as far northward as
the ridge or chain of Endless Mountains as they cross ye country
of Pennsylvania, from eastward to the West." This deed estab-
lished a precedent for an Iroquois claim to all the lands owned by
the Delaware Indians, and was the cause, as we shall see, of
greatly embittering the Delawares.
Shikellamy was one of the signers of this deed to the Delaware
lands, which, in addition to conveying the lands of the Dela-
wares, contained the solemn promise that at no time would the
Six Nations sell any lands within the Province of Pennsylvania
to any person or persons, Indians or white men, except to "the
said Wm. Penn's Children." For copy of the deed, see Pennsyl-
vania Archives, Vol. 1, pages 498 and 499.
It is clear that, while William Penn recognized the claim of
the Six Nations to the lands of the Susquehannas or Conestogas,
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 109
yet he never recognized any claim on the part of the Six Nations
to the lands of the Delawares; and, prior to this treaty of 1736, it
cannot be found that the Iroquois themselves ever made any
claim to the lands of the Delawares, although of course, they had
exercised an overlordship over them, "declaring them women and
forbidding them to make war," It is very probable that, at the
time of making the Iroquois deed for the Delaware lands, no one
realized what the outcome of such a deed would be. It was an
indirect way of denying to the Delaware Indians all title to their
lands. The Iroquois had promised that in the future they would
never sell any land within the limits of Pennsylvania to anyone
except Penn's heirs, and, probably, the chief purpose in securing
this deed was to place this promise of the Six Nations perma-
nently in writing.
This action in purchasing the Delaware lands from the Iro-
quois marked a great change in the Indian policy of Pennsylvania
— a change brought about by Shikellamy and Conrad Weiser.
Weiser interpreted the deed to the Iroquois, and they were evi-
dently aware that they had gained a most important point; that,
henceforth, the Colony of Pennsylvania would be a sponsor for
their claims on the Delaware River; and that all the ancient dis-
putes with the Delawares in this matter were settled. Further-
more, by this action, the Colony of Pennsylvania had taken sides
in the age-long quarrel between the Iroquois on the one hand and
the Delawares on the other. William Penn had refused to take
sides in any Indian differences, but his sons were more bent on
personal profit than on public justice and public security.
From the date of this purchase, it was no longer possible for
the Colony of Pennsylvania to treat the Delawares as formerly.
The Six Nations had been recognized as the favorite people and
the Delawares, the affectionate friends of William Penn, as under-
lings. The Delawares had already been offended through the
long delay in purchasing from them the Tulpehocken lands, which
had been settled many years before the Colony got an Indian title
for the same. Now, in purchasing their lands from the Iroquois,
the Colony started that long series of events with the Delawares,
which resulted in the bloodiest invasion in colonial history — an
invasion which drenched Pennsylvania in blood from 1755 to
1764; but at the same time, while thus bringing upon herself a
Delaware and Shawnee war, she escaped a Six Nation war, which
no doubt would have been much more serious in its consequences.
The two deeds gotten from the Iroquois at the Treaty of 1736
110 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
embraced the counties of York, Adams, and Cumberland, that
part of FrankHn, Dauphin, and Lebanon southeast of the Blue or
Kittatinny Mountains, and that part of Berks, Lehigh, and North-
ampton not already possessed.
For a full account of the Treaty of 1736, the reader is referred
to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 4, pages 79 to 95.
During the spring following the treaty of 1736, Conrad Weiser,
at the solicitation of Governor Gooch of Virginia, was sent by the
Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania to the central seat of the
Six Nations at Onondaga, New York, in an effort to arrange a
peace between the Iroquois and the Catawbas, Cherokees and
allied tribes of the South. On this terrible journey through the
deep snows of Pennsylvania and New York, Weiser was accom-
panied by a neighbor, named Stoffel Stump, Shikellamy and an
Onondaga Indian, named Owisgera. The Iroquois agreed to an
armistice of one year. Weiser's account of his mission is found
in Vol. 1 of the Collections of the Historical Society of Pennsyl-
vania, and is one of the most interesting and valuable documents
relating to the early history of the Keystone State.
"The Walking Purchase"
While the Six Nations at the treaty held at Philadelphia in
October, 1736, just described, went on record in declaring that the
Delaware nation had no lands to sell, yet the Colonial Authorities
of Pennsylvania depended for quiet enjoyment upon the old
deeds from the Delawares to William Penn and his heirs, men-
tioned in an earlier chapter. In 1734, Thomas Penn, son of the
founder of the Colony, claimed to have found a copy of a certain
deed from the Delaware chiefs, Mayhkeerickkishsho, Taugh-
houghsey, and Sayhoppy, to his father, dated August 30, 1686,
calling for a dimension "as far as a man can go in a day and a half"
and thence to the Delaware River and down the courses of the
same. The original of this deed, Thomas Penn claimed, had been
lost for many years. The alleged description set forth in the
original deed was as follows :
"All those lands lying and being in the province of Pennsyl-
vania, beginning upon a line formerly laid out from a corner
spruce tree, by the river Delaware, and from thence running along
the ledge or the foot of the mountains west northwest (west south-
west) to a corner white oak marked with the letter P. standing by
the Indian path that leadeth to an Indian town called Playwiskey,
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 111
and from thence extending westward to Neshaminy Creek, from
which said Hne, the said tract or tracts thereby granted doth ex-
tend itself back into the woods, as far as a man can go in one day
and a half, and bounded on the westerly side with the creek called
Neshaminy, or the most westerly branch thereof, and from thence
by a line to the utmost extent of said creek one day and a half's
journey to the aforesaid river Delaware, and thence down the
several courses of the said river to the first mentioned spruce
tree."
The Delaware town, Playwiskey, or Playwickey, was the resi-
dence of the great Delaware chief, Tamanend, or Tammany, and
was located about two and a half miles west of the present town
of Langhorne, Bucks County. A monument now marks its site.
The dimension set forth in the foregoing alleged deed was
never "walked" in the lifetime of William Penn. Thomas Penn
and the other Colonial Authorities were anxious that the lands
described in the alleged deed should be measured without further
delay. Some of the Delawares did not wish the line measured,
but, on August 25, 1737, the more influential chiefs of the Munsee
Clan, among whom were "King Nutimus" and Manawkyhickon,
entered into a treaty with Thomas Penn by the terms of which
they agreed that the land should be measured by a walk according
to the provisions of the deed. This agreement of August 25th was
virtually a deed of release of the lands claimed to have been
granted by the deed of August 30, 1686. We shall now see how
well Thomas Penn and his associates were prepared for the "walk"
and how it was accomplished :
The 19th day of September, 1737, was the day appointed for
the "walk." It was agreed that the starting point should be a
chestnut tree standing a little above the present site of Wrights-
town, Bucks County. Timothy Smith, the sheriff of Bucks Coun-
ty, and Benjamin Eastburn, the surveyor-general, supervised the
so-called walk. The persons employed by the Colonial Authori-
ties to perform the walk, after the Proprietaries had advertised
for the most expert walkers in the Province, were athletes famous
for their abilities as fast walkers; and, as an inducement for their
making this walk a supreme test of their abilities, a compensation
of five pounds in money and 500 acres of land was offered the
one who could go the longest distance in the allotted time. Their
names were Edward Marshall, a native of Bucks County, a noted
chain carrier, hunter and backwoodsman; James Yates, a native
of the same county, a tall and agile man, with much speed of foot;
112 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
and Solomon Jennings also a man of remarkable physique. These
men had been hunted out by the Proprietaries' agents as the
fastest backwoodsmen in the Province, and as a preliminary
measure, they had been taken over the ground before, spending
some nine days, during which their route was marked off by
blazing the trees and clearing away the brush.
At sunrise on the day appointed, these three athletes, accom-
panied by a number of Indians and some white persons, some of
whom carried refreshments for them, started from the chestnut
tree above Wrightstown; and, at first, they walked moderately,
but before long they set such a pace that the Indians frequently
called upon them to walk and not run. The remonstrance of the
Indians producing no effect, most of them left in anger and dis-
gust, asserting that they were basely cheated. By previous ar-
rangement, a number of white people were collected about twenty
miles from the starting point, to see the "walkers" pass. Yates
was much in the lead, and was accompanied by several persons
on horseback; next came Jennings, but out of sight; and lastly,
Marshall, proceeding in an apparently careless manner, eating a
biscuit and swinging a hatchet from hand to hand, evidently to
balance the motion of his body. The above mentioned body of
whites bet strongly in favor of Yates. Jennings and two of the
Indians who accompanied him were exhausted before the end of
the first day, and were unable to keep up with the other two.
Jennings never thereafter recovered his health. However, Yates
and Marshall kept on, and, at sunset, had arrived at the north
side of the Blue Mountains.
At sunrise of the next day, Yates and Marshall started again,
but, when crossing a stream at the foot of the mountain, Yates
fell into the water, and Marshall turned back and supported him
until some of the attendants came up, and then continued on his
way alone. Yates was stricken with blindness and lived only
three days. At noon Marshall threw himself full length upon the
ground and grasped a sapling which stood on a spur of the Second
or Broad Mountain, near Mauch Chunk, Carbon County, which
was then declared to mark the distance that a man could travel
on foot in a day and a half — estimated to be about sixty-five
miles from the starting point. Thus, one man out of three covered
this distance, and lived.
In the agreement with Thomas Penn to have the bounds of
the alleged deed made by a walk, the Delawares believed that as
far as a man could go in a day and a half would not extend beyond
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 113
the Lehigh Hills, or about thirty miles from the place of begin-
ning; but the crafty and unprincipled Colonial Authorities had
laid their plans to extend the walk to such a point as to include
the land in the Forks of the Delaware and also farther up that
river, it being their desire to obtain, if possible, the possession of
that desirable tract of land along the Delaware River above the
Blue Mountains, called the "Minisink Lands." Having, as we
have seen, reached a point more than thirty miles farther to the
northwestward than the Delawares had anticipated, the Colonial
Authorities now proceeded to draw a line from the end of the
walk to the Delaware River. The alleged deed did not describe
the course that the line should take from the end of the walk to
the river; but any fair-minded person would assume that it
should follow the shortest distance between these two places.
However, the agent of the Proprietaries, instead of running the
line by the nearest course to the Delaware, ran it northeastward
across the country so as to strike the river near the mouth of the
Lackawaxen, which flows into the Delaware River in the northern
part of Pike County. The extent of this line was sixty-six miles.
The territory as thus measured was in the shape of a great triangle
whose base was the Delaware River and whose apex was the end
of the walk, and included the northern part of Bucks, almost all
of Northampton, and a portion of Pike, Carbon, and Monroe
Counties. This fraudulent measurement thus took in all the
Minisink Lands and many thousand acres more than if the line
had been run by the nearest course from the end of the walk to
the Delaware.
Delawares Driven from Lands of "Walking Purchase"
When the settlers began to move upon the lands covered by
the Walking Purchase of 1737, which they did soon after the
"walk" was made, King Nutimus and several of the other Dela-
ware chiefs who had signed the treaty or deed of release of 1737,
were not willing to quit the lands or to permit the new settlers to
remain in quiet possession. Indeed, they remonstrated freely
and declared their intention to remain in possession, even if they
should have to use force of arms.
In the spring of 1741, a message was sent by the Colonial
Authorities to the Six Nations, requesting them to come down and
force the Delawares of the Munsee Clan to quit these lands. The
Six Nations complied and sent their deputies to Philadelphia,
114 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
where this and other matters were taken up in the treaty of July,
1 742, to be described presently. At this treaty. Governor Thomas
called the attention of Canassatego, the speaker of the Iroquois
delegation, to the fact that a number of the Delaware Indians,
residing on the Minisink lands above the mouth of the Lehigh
River, had refused to surrender peaceful possession of the territory
secured to the Colony by the Walking Purchase. However, the
Governor did not tell Canassatego that, when John and Thomas
Penn were persuading the Delawares to confirm the deeds covered
by the Walking Purchase, they had promised these Indians
that the said papers "would not cause the removal of any Indians
then living on the Minisink Lands." These Delawares had re-
quested that they be permitted to remain on their settlements,
though within the bounds of the Walking Purchase, without being
molested, and their request was granted. Later, on August 24,
1737, just the day before the Delaware chiefs signed the deed, or
treaty, confirming the alleged deed of August 30, 1786, the assur-
ances given the Delawares by John and Thomas Penn were re-
peated and confirmed at a meeting of the Provincial Council at
Philadelphia.
Canassatego, unaware of the assurances given the Delawares,
replied as follows:
"You informed us of the misbehavior of our cousins, the Dela-
wares, with respect to their continuing to claim and refusing to
remove from some land on the River Delaware, notwithstanding
their ancestors had sold it by deed under their hands and seals to
the Proprietors for a valuable consideration, upwards of fifty
years ago, and notwithstanding that they themselves had about
five years ago, after a long and full examination, ratified that
deed of their ancestors, and given a fresh one under their hands
and seals; and then you requested us to remove them, enforcing
your request with a string of wampum. Afterwards you laid on
the table, by Conrad Weiser, our own letters, some of our cousins*
letters, and the several writings to prove the charge against our
cousins, with a draught of the land in dispute. We now tell you
that we have perused all these several papers. We see with our
own eyes that they [the Delawares] have been a very unruly
people, and are altogether in the wrong in their dealings with you.
We have concluded to remove them, and oblige them to go over
the River Delaware, and to quit all claim to any lands on this
side for the future, since they have received pay for them, and it
has gone through their guts long ago. To confirm to you that we
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 115
will see your request executed, we lay down this string of wampum
in return for yours."
Attending the treaty were some Delawares from the Sunbury
region, headed by Sassoonan, and a delegation from the Forks of
the Delaware, headed by Nutimus. As soon as Canassatego
finished the foregoing speech, taking a belt of wampum in his
hand, he turned to the Delawares, and delivered the following
humiliating address:
"COUSINS: — Let this belt of wampum serve to chastise you;
you ought to be taken by the hair of the head and shaked severely
till you recover your senses and become sober; you don't know
what ground you are standing on, or what you are doing. Our
Brother Onas' case is very just and plain, and his intentions to
preserve friendship; on the other hand your cause is bad; your
head far from being upright, you are maliciously bent to break
the chain of friendship with our Brother Onas. We have seen
with our eyes a deed signed by nine of your ancestors above fifty
years ago for this very land, and a release signed not many years
since by some of yourselves and chiefs now living to the number
of fifteen or upwards.
"But how came you to take upon you to sell land at all? We
conquered you ; we made women of you ; you know you are women
and can no more sell land than women. Nor is it fit that you
should have the power of selling land, since you would abuse it.
This land that you claim is gone through your guts. You have
been furnished with clothes and meat and drink by the goods paid
you for it, and now you want it again like children, as you are.
But what makes you sell land in the dark? Did you ever tell us
that you had sold this land? Did we ever receive any part, even
the value of a pipe shank for it?
"You have told us a blind story that you sent a messenger to
inform us of the sale, but he never came amongst us, nor we never
heard anything about it. This is acting in the dark, and very
different from the conduct which our Six Nations observe in their
sales of land. On such occasions, they give public notice and in-
vite all the Indians of their united nations, but we find that you
are none of our blood. You act a dishonest part, not only in this,
but in other matters. Your ears are ever open to slanderous re-
ports about our brethren . . . And for all these reasons we
charge you to remove instantly; we don't give you liberty to
think about it. You are women; take the advice of a wise man,
and remove immediately. You may return to the other side of
116 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the Delaware, where you came from, but we don't know whether,
considering how you have demeaned yourselves, you will be per-
mitted to live there, or whether you have not swallowed that land
down your throats, as well as the land on this side. We, therefore,
assign you two places to go,— either to Wyoming or Shamokin.
You may go to either of these places, and then we shall have you
more under our eye, and shall see how you behave. Don't de-
liberate, but remove away, and take this belt of wampum."
Canassatego spoke with the air of a conqueror and one having
authority; and both the manner of the delivery of his speech and
the manner in which it was received by the trembling Delawares,
would indicate that the Six Nations must have been right in their
contention that they gained the ascendency over the Delawares,
not by artifice, as the Delawares told Heckewelder, but by force of
arms, some authorities asserting that, when the Iroquois con-
quered the Susquehannas in 1675, this conquest carried with it
the subjugation of the Delawares, inasmuch as the Susquehannas
were overlords of the Delawares. "When this terrible sentence
was ended," says Watson, "it is said that the unfeeling political
philosopher [Canassatego] walked forward, and, taking strong
hold of the long hair of King Nutimus, of the Delawares, led him
to the door and forcibly sent him out of the room, and stood
there while all the trembling inferiors followed him. He then
walked back to his place like another Cato, and calmly pro-
ceeded to another subject as if nothing happened. The poor fel-
lows [Nutimus and his company], in great and silent grief, went
directly home, collected their families and goods, and, burning
their cabins to signify they were never to return, marched reluc-
tantly to their new homes."
Shortly after the treaty of 1742, the Delawares of the Munsee
Clan left the bounds of the "Walking Purchase" and the beauti-
ful river bearing their name, and began their march toward the
setting sun. The greater part of them, under Nutimus settled on
the site of Wilkes-Barre, opposite Wyoming Town, and at "Niske-
beckon," on the left bank of the North Branch of the Susque-
hanna, not far from the mouth of Nescopeck Creek, in Luzerne
County. The town which they established near the mouth of
Nescopeck Creek was called "Nutimy's Town." Others went to
the region around Sunbury; and others took up their abode on
the Juniata, near Lewistown, Mifflin County. Later all went to
the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny with their wrongs rankling
in their bosoms. Furthermore, these Delawares of the Munsee
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 117
or Wolf Clan went to the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio at a
critical time, — when the French were coming into the same
valleys, asserting their claim to the region drained by these
beautiful rivers, a claim based on the explorations of La Salle and
the heroic Jesuit Missionaries, those true Knights of the Cross, to
whom any one who correctly writes the early history of the
region between the Mississippi River and the Allegheny Moun-
tains must needs pay a high tribute of esteem. The French
sympathized with the wronged Delawares. It is no wonder, then,
that the Delawares joined the French in the French and Indian
War, and brought upon defenseless Pennsylvania the bloodiest
Indian invasion in American history.
The term "Walking Purchase" is a term of derision. This
fraudulent purchase has been called "the disgrace of the Col-
onies." It was the subject of much discussion between the
Quaker and Proprietary parties as being one of the chief causes
of the alienation of the Delawares and of their taking up arms
against the Colony during the French and Indian War, until the
charge of "fraud" was withdrawn and the Delawares were recon-
ciled through the influence of the Moravian missionary. Christian
Frederick Post, at the treaty at Easton, in the summer of 1758.
Says Dr. George P. Donehoo, in his recent great work, "Pennsyl-
vania— A History" : "It matters little whether the Delaware were
influenced by the Quakers to complain of the 'fraud,' or whether
they themselves felt that they had been cheated, the fact still
remains that the 'Walking Purchase' directly and indirectly, led
to the gravest of consequences, so far as the warlike Munsee Clan
of the Delaware was concerned."
In connection with the removal of the Delawares from the
bounds of the Walking Purchase, is the case of Captain John and
Tatemy, two worthy Delaware chiefs who had always been warm
friends of the white man. In November, 1742, they petitioned
Governor Thomas, setting forth that they had embraced Christi-
anity, and desired to live where they were, near the English. The
Governor sent for them, and they appeared before the Provincial
Council. Captain John did not own any ground, but advised the
Governor, if permitted to live among the English, he would buy
some. Tatemy owned three hundred acres of land, granted him
by the Proprietaries; and he said he simply wanted to spend the
remaining years of his life on his own plantation in peace with all
men. The Governor ordered that Canassatego's speech be read to
these poor Indians, refused their petition, and told them they
118 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
would have to secure the consent of the Six Nations, the con-
querors of the Delawares. Evidently the Six Nations made no
objections, as Tatemy continued to live on his tract near Stocker-
town, Northampton County, until his death, which took place
about 1761. His house was one of the landmarks of the region.
Here he was visited by Count Zinzendorf, in 1742. He attended
many important councils with the Colonial Authorities. As we
shall see later in this volume, his son, William, was mortally
wounded while on his way to attend the Easton conference of
July and August, 1757.
The Shawnee Treaty of 1739
The Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania, realizing that the
Shawnees were rapidly being won over by the French, induced
Kakowatcheky, of Wyoming, Kishacoquillas of the Juniata, and
Neucheconneh and Tamenebuck, of the Allegheny, and other
Shawnee chiefs, whose settlements were scattered from Wyoming
and Great Island (Lock Haven) to the Allegheny, to come to a
conference, or treaty, at Philadelphia on July 27th to August 1st,
1739. At this conference the Conestoga and Shawnee agreement
with William Penn, dated April 23rd, 1701, was brought to the
attention of the chiefs; and they were told that the Colonial
Authorities thought it proper to remind them of this solemn en-
gagement which their ancestors had entered into with Penn, inas-
much as the said Authorities knew that the emissaries of the
French were endeavoring to prevail upon the Shawnees to re-
nounce their agreement with the Colony. In other words, the
Governor and Provincial Council put the plain question of the
Shawnees' loyalty to past agreements with Pennsylvania. The
chiefs desired that their reply be postponed until the following day,
explaining that "it was their custom to speak or transact business
of importance only whilst the sun was rising, and not when it was
declining." In the morning, they showed that all past agree-
ments had been kept by them quite as faithfully as by the white
men. And since Pennsylvania had, about a year previously,
promised to issue an order forbidding the sale of any more rum
among them, they had sent one of their young men to the French,
as an agent to induce them 'for all time, to put a stop to the sale
of rum, brandy, and wine.' " The result of the conference was
that the Shawnees, with the full understanding that the rum
traffic was to be stopped, promised not to join any other nation.
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 119
«
and confirmed the old Conestoga and Shawnee agreement or
treaty of April 23rd, 1701. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 4, pages 336 to
347.)
The Treaty of 1742
Reference has been made to the Treaty of 1742 in connection
with Canassatego's ordering the Delawares of the Munsee Clan
from the bounds of the Walking Purchase. For a full account of
this treaty, see the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 4, pages
559 to 586.
This treaty of July, 1742, was called for the purpose of paying
the Iroquois for that part of the land purchased from them by
Pennsylvania at the treaty of 1736 which lay west of the Susque-
hanna River. Shikellamy and the other deputies of the Six
Nations were expected to arrive in Philadelphia in May, 1742,
but it was not until June 30th that the deputies, representing all
tribes of the Confederation, except the Senecas and the Mohawks,
arrived at Philadelphia, empowered to receive the pay for the
lands west of the Susquehanna. The Senecas were not present at
this treaty, because of a great famine among them ; nor were the
Mohawks, because they were not considered to have any claims
upon the Susquehanna lands. The sessions of the treaty began
on July 2nd. The three remaining nations of the Iroquois con-
federacy, early in the conference, received the goods in payment
of that part of the Susquehanna lands lying west of the Susque-
hanna River, comprising the counties of York, Cumberland,
Adams, and most of Franklin.
Soon after the goods in payment of the Susquehanna lands
were divided, the Iroquois deputies expressed their dissatisfaction
with the amount, although admitting that it was as agreed upon.
They said they felt sure that, if the sons of William Penn, who
were then in England, were present, they would agree to giving a
large amount out of pity for the Indians on account of their pov-
erty and wretchedness. Through their chief speaker, Canassatego
an Onondago chieftain, they begged Governor Thomas, inasmuch
as he had the keys to the Proprietors' chest, to open the same and
take out a little more for them. Governor Thomas replied that
the Proprietors had gone to England and taken the keys with
them; whereupon, the Indians, as an additional reason for their
request, called attention to the increasing value of the lands sold,
and also to the fact that the whites were daily settling on Indian
lands that had not been sold. They called attention to the fact
120 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
that, at the last treaty with the Colony, the Iroquois had com-
plained about the whites settling on unsold lands, and that the
Governor, at that time, agreed to remedy this wrong.
Said Canassatego: "Land is everlasting, and the few things
we receive for it are soon worn out and gone; for the future, we
will sell no lands but when Brother Onas [meaning the sons of
William Penn] is in the country, and we will know beforehand the
quality of goods we are to receive. Besides, we are not well used
with respect to the lands still unsold by us. Your people daily
settle on these lands and spoil our hunting. We must insist on
your removing them, as you know they have no right to the north-
ward of the Kittochtinny Hills [Kittatinny, or Blue Mountains].
In particular, we renew our complaints against some people who
are settled at Juniata, a branch of the Susquehanna, and all along
the banks of that river as far as Mahaniay, and desire that they
be forwith made to go off the land, for they do great damage to
our cousins, the Delawares."
Canassatego further called attention to the fact that Maryland
and Virginia had not paid the Iroquois for lands within their
bounds upon which the whites were settling, and that, at the
treaty of 1736, the Governor of Pennsylvania had promised to use
his influence with Maryland and Virginia in their behalf in regard
to this matter. "This affair," said Canassatego, "was recom-
mended to you by our chiefs at our last treaty and you then, at
our earnest desire, promised to write a letter to that person who
has authority over those people, and to procure us an answer. As
we have never heard from you on this head, we want to know what
you have done in it. If you have not done anything, we now re-
new our request, and desire you will inform the person whose
people are seated on our lands that that country [western Mary-
land and Virginia] belongs to us by right of conquest, we having
bought it with our blood, and taken it from our enemies in fair
war." Canassatego threatened that, if Maryland and Virginia
did not pay for these lands, the Iroquois would enforce payment
in their own way.
Governor Thomas replied that he had ordered the magistrates
of Lancaster County to drive off the squatters from the Juniata
lands, and was not aware that any had stayed. The Indians in-
terrupted, and said that the persons who had been sent to remove
the squatters, did not do their duty; that, instead of removing
them from the Juniata lands, they were in league with the squat-
ters, and had made large surveys for themselves. The earnest
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 121
arguments of Canassatego had the desired effect. The Provincial
Council decided to add to the value of the goods a present of three
hundred pounds.
The Governor advised Canassatego that, shortly after the
treaty of 1736, James Logan, President of the Council, had written
the Governor of Maryland about the lands, but received no reply.
Now the Governor promised to intercede with Maryland and Vir-
ginia, and, if possible, to secure payment for the lands of the Iro-
quois upon which the whites of those colonies were settling. He
also renewed his promise to remove the squatters from the
Juniata Valley.
The squatters in the Juniata Valley were Germans. True to
his promise to Canassatego, Governor Thomas had these persons
removed the following year. But the squatters in the Big Cove,
Little Cove, Big Connoloways, Little Connoloways, and the
majority of those in Path Valley and Sherman's Valley were
Scotch-Irish. These dwellers on lands not yet purchased from
the Indians were not removed until May 1750, when Lieutenant-
Governor Morris, after the organization of Cumberland County,
in that year, sent Richard Peters, George Croghan, Conrad
Weiser, James Galbraith and others with the under-sheriff of
Cumberland County, to remove all persons who had settled north
of the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains. Some of the cabins of these
intruders were burned after the families had moved out, so as to
prevent settlements in the future. It is thus that Burnt Cabins,
in the north eastern part of Fulton County, got its name. Among
the settlers removed on this occasion was Simon Girty, the elder,
father of Simon, Jr., Thomas, George and James Girty. A
sketch of the Girtys will appear later in this volume. In 1752,
Governor Hamilton directed Andrew Montour to take up his
residence in what is now Perry County for the purpose of pre-
venting settlements being made on lands not purchased from the
Indians.
The Lancaster Treaty of 1744
Hardly had the Iroquois deputies returned home from the
treaty of 1742 when fresh troubles started between the Confed-
eration of the Six Nations and the Catawbas and Cherokees of
the South. These troubles involved Virginia, as some Iroquois
were killed by Virginia settlers while on their way to attack the
Catawbas. Learning of these matters, the Provincial Council
of Pennsylvania sent Conrad Weiser to Shamokin to interview
122 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Shikellamy. Weiser held conferences with this great Iroquois
vice-gerent on February 4th and April 9th, 1743. About this
time, Governor Gooch of Virginia sent word to Governor Thomas
of Pennsylvania that Virginia would accept the latter's mediation
with the Six Nations. The Pennsylvania Authorities then sent
Weiser and Shikellamy to Onondaga to arrange for a time and
place of holding a treaty or conference between the Six Nations
and Virginia. The Great Council at Onondaga accepted the offer
of Governor Thomas of Pennsylvania and Governor Gooch of
Virginia for a conference or treaty at Harris Ferry (Harrisburg)
the next spring. Later, on account of the inconvenience of meet-
ing at Harrisburg, it was decided to hold the treaty at Lancaster,
a small town then sixteen years old.
At Onondaga, the Iroquois chief, Zillawallie, gave the cause of
the war between the Six Nations and the Catawbas. Addressing
Weiser, he said; "We are engaged in a great war with the Cataw-
bas, which will last to the end of the world ; for they molest us,
and speak contemptuously of us, which our warriors will not
bear, and they will soon go to war against them again. It will be
in vain for us to dissaude them from it."
On this mission to Onondaga, Conrad Weiser prevented a war
between Virginia and the Six Nations — a war which would event-
ually have involved the other colonies.
Before describing the Lancaster Treaty, we call attention to
the fact that, scarcely had the treaty of 1742 been concluded,
when the Colonial Authorities of Pennsylvania were asked by the
Governor of Maryland for advice and assistance in that Colony's
trouble with the Six Nations. It appeared that, in the early part
of the summer of 1742, some Nanticokes in Maryland were im-
prisoned, and that their friends, the Shawnees and Senecas,
threatened to make trouble unless they were released. Governor
Thomas of Pennsylvania engaged Conrad Weiser to accompany
the Maryland messenger to the region of the Six Nations, as in-
terpreter, for the purpose of inviting the Six Nations to a treaty
to be held at Harris' Ferry (Harrisburg) in the spring of 1743. It
does not appear that the Iroquois did any more than simply
deliberate on this matter; but Maryland's advances at least had
the virtue of opening negotiations at the Great Council of the
Six Nations on the part of that Colony.
On Friday, June 22nd, 1744, the long expected delegation of
the Six Nations arrived at Lancaster for the purpose of entering
into a treaty with Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 123
delegation consisted of two hundred and forty-two, and was
headed by Canassatego. There were many squaws and children
mounted on horseback. Arriving in front of the Court House, the
leaders of the delegation saluted the commissioners from Penn-
sylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, with a song. This was an
invitation to the whites to renew former treaties and to make
good the one now proposed.
When the Maryland commissioners came to the Lancaster
treaty, they had no intention whatever of recognizing any Iro-
quois claims to lands within the bounds of their province, basing
their position upon the following facts : (1 ) Maryland had bought
from the Minquas, or Susquehannas, in 1652, all their claims on
both sides of the Chesapeake Bay as far north as the mouth of the
Susquehanna River. (2) The Minquas, aided by troops from
Maryland, had, in 1663, defeated eight hundred Senecas and
Cayugas of the Iroquois Confederation.
But the Iroquois never abandoned their war on the Minquas
until they overwhelmingly defeated this tribe in 1675, when they
were reduced by famine and Maryland had withdrawn her al-
liance. Now, in view of their conquest of the Minquas, the Six
Nations claimed a right to the Susquehanna lands to the head of
Chesapeake Bay.
The Maryland commissioners receded from their position.
The release for the Maryland lands was signed, on Monday, July
2nd, at George Sanderson's Inn, instead of at the Court House.
Conrad Weiser signed in behalf of the absent member of the Iro-
quois Confederation, (Mohawk), both with his Indian name of
Tarach-a-wa-gon, and that of Weiser. By his dexterous man-
agement, the lands released were so described as not to give Mary-
land a title to lands claimed by Pennsylvania, the boundary dis-
pute between Maryland and Pennsylvania being at the time still
pending. The release was for all "lands lying two miles above the
upperm^ost forks of Patowmack or Cohongoruton River, near
which Thomas Cresap has his hunting or trading cabin, [at Old
Town fourteen miles east of Cumberland, Maryland,] by a line
north to the bounds of Pennsylvania. But, in case such limits
shall not include every settlement or inhabitant of Maryland, then
such other lines and courses from the said two miles above the
forks to the outermost inhabitants or settlements, as shall include
every settlement and inhabitant in Maryland, and from thence
by a north line to the bounds of Pennsylvania, shall be the limits.
And, further, if any people already have or shall settle beyond the
124 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
lands now described and bounded, they shall enjoy the same free
from any disturbance of us in any manner whatsoever, and we do
and shall accept these people for our Brethren, and as such will
always treat them." Thus was the purchase happily affected.
However, Shikellamy refused to sign the deed of the Maryland
lands, being determined not to recognize that Maryland had any
land claims north of the disputed boundary line between herself
and Pennsylvania.
The Virginia commissioners had their negotiations with the
Iroquois deputies in progress at the same time as Maryland. They
found the Iroquois very determined not to yield any part of their
claim to the Virginia lands. Said Tachanoontia, an Onondaga
chieftain: "We have the right of conquest— a right too dearly
purchased, and which cost us too much blood to give up without
any reason at all." Finally, after much oratory, the Six Nations
released all their land claims in Virginia for a consideration of two
hundred pounds in goods and two hundred pounds in gold, with
a written promise to be given additional remuneration as the
settlements increased to the westward; and the Virginia com-
missioners guaranteed the Indians an open road to the Catawba
country, promising that the people of Virginia would do their part
if the Iroquois would perform theirs. The Iroquois understood
this to mean that the Virginians would feed their war parties, if
they (the Iroquois) would not shoot the farmers' cattle, chickens,
etc., when passing to and from the Catawba country.
"When the treaty was over, the Indians believed that they had
established land claims in Virginia, that the open road was guar-
anteed, that their warriors were to be fed while passing through
the state, and that they had sold land only to the head-waters of
the streams feeding the Ohio River. The Virginians, on the other
hand, believed that they had extinguished all Iroquois land
claims forever within the charter limits of their colony." The
western bounds of the Virginia purchase were set forth as "the
setting sun," leading Virginia to believe that the purchase in-
cluded the Ohio Valley, but the Iroquois afterwards explained
that by "the setting sun" was meant the crest of the Allegheny
Mountains. It was after the treaty that large tracts of land were
granted the Ohio Company; and it was not until the year 1768
that the Six Nations, by the treaty of Fort Stanwix, New York,
relinquished all their rights to the region on the east and south
side of the Ohio, from the Cherokee River, in Tennessee, to
Kittanning, Pennsylvania.
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 125
Pennsylvania, the Peacemaker
In the Lancaster Treaty, Pennsylvania was the mediator and
peacemaker, inducing Maryland and Virginia to lay aside their
opposition to Iroquois land claims, and settle in such a manner as
to secure the friendship of the Six Nations. Thus the French
were thwarted, and the English frontier from New England to
the Carolinas was protected. Pennsylvania also confirmed her
former treaties with the Iroquois.
But while Pennsylvania was acting as peacemaker, she had
trouble of her own to adjust with the Iroquois deputies. On
April 9th, 1744, John (Jack) Armstrong, a trader on his way to
the Allegheny, and his two servants, James Smith and Woodward
Arnold, were murdered at Jacks Narrows (named for "Jack"
Armstrong), on the Juniata, in Huntingdon County, by a Dela-
ware Indian named Musemeelin. It appeared that Musemeelin
owed Armstrong some skins, and Armstrong seized a horse and
rifle belonging to the Indian in lieu of the skins. Later Muse-
meelin met Armstrong near the Juniata and paid him all his in-
debtedness except twenty shillings, and demanded his horse, but
Armstrong refused to give the animal up until the entire debt
was paid. Shortly after this, Armstrong and his servants passed
the cabin of Musemeelin on their way to the Allegheny, and
Musemeelin's wife demanded the horse, but by this time Arm-
strong had sold it to James Berry. Musemeelin was away on a
hunting trip at the time his wife made the demand on Armstrong,
and, when he returned, she told him about it. This angered him
and he determined on revenge. Taking two young Indians with
him, Musemeelin went to the camp of Armstrong, shot Smith
who was there alone and Arnold whom they found returning to
camp, and, meeting Armstrong, who was sitting on an old log, he
demanded his horse. Armstrong replied: "He will come by and
by." "I want him now," said Musemeelin. "You shall have
him. Come to the fire and let us smoke and talk together," said
Armstrong. As they proceeded, Musemeelin shot and toma-
hawked him.
The matter was placed by Governor Thomas in the hands of
Shikellamy at Shamokin, who caused the murderers to be appre-
hended, and, after a hearing, ordered two of them to be sent to
the Lancaster jail to await trial. Conrad Weiser was the bearer
of the Governor's message to Shikellamy and Sassoonan. While
126 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Shikellamy's sons were conveying the prisoners to Lancaster, the
friends of Musemeelin, who was related to some important Dela-
ware chiefs, induced Shikellamy's sons to allow Musemeelin to
escape. The other Indian was locked in jail.
At the Lancaster treaty, Governor Thomas demanded of the
Iroquois that they command their subjects, the Delawares, to
surrender Musemeelin to the Provincial Authorities, and the In-
dians were invited to Lancaster to witness the trial. The Iro-
quois deputies replied that the Provincial Authorities should not
be too much concerned; that three Indians had been killed at
different times on the Ohio by the whites, and the Iroquois had
never mentioned anything concerning them to the Colony. How-
ever, they stated that they had severely reproved the Delawares,
and would see that the goods which the murderers had stolen from
Armstrong be restored to his relatives, and Musemeelin be re-
turned for trial, but not as a prisoner. Later on August 21st,
1744, Shikellamy brought the two prisoners to the Provincial
Authorities at Philadelphia. Musemeelin was not convicted. He
returned to his wigwam.
No Delawares, the friends of William Penn, were present at
the Lancaster Treaty, the Iroquois having forbidden them to
attend.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of the Lancaster
Treaty — in many respects the most important Indian Council
ever held in Pennsylvania up to this time. War between England
and France, King George's War, was then raging. At the opening
of this conflict, the question uppermost in the minds, not only of
the Governors of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, but of
all the colonies, was, "What will be the attitude of the powerful
Six Nations?" The successful settling of the disputed land claims
of the Iroquois in Maryland and Virginia, by this treaty, through
the mediation of Pennsylvania, with Weiser as mentor, had much
to do with making possible the success of Weiser's future negotia-
tions with the Onondaga Council, negotiations that resulted in
the neutrality of the Iroquois during King George's War. Had
not the Iroquois deputies, at the Treaty of Lancaster, promised
to inform the Governor of Pennsylvania as to the movements of
the French? Had this great Confederation sided with the French,
the English colonies would have been swept into the sea.
A full account of the Lancaster Treaty of 1744 is found in the
Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 4, pages 698 to 737.
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 121
Peter Chartier Deserts to the French
Peter Chartier was the only son of Martin Chartier, who ac-
companied the Shawnees, under Opessah, to Pequea, Lancaster
County, in 1697 or 1698, and his mother was a Shawnee squaw.
The father was a Frenchman, who had Hved among this band of
Shawnees for many years prior to their entering Pennsylvania,
and accompanied them in their wanderings. He set up a trading
house at Pequea a few years after the Shawnees took up their
abode there. At least, he traded at Pequea as early as 1707.
Some years later, he removed his trading post to Dekanoagah,
which we have seen was located on or near the present site of
Washington Borough, Lancaster County. Here he died in 1718.
Peter Chartier is said to have followed his father's example by
marrying a Shawnee squaw. In 1718, he secured a warrant for
three hundred acres of land "where his father is settled, on Sus-
quehanna river." For some years he traded with the Shawnees
who had left Pequea and settled near the site of Washington
Borough and at Paxtang. Later he traded with those members
of this tribe who had settled on the west side of the Susquehanna,
at the mouth of Shawnee (now Yellow Breeches) Creek, on the
site of the present town of New Cumberland, Cumberland
County. We have already seen how he, in 1728, aided in the
escape of the Shawnees who had murdered the two Conestogas.
Still later, he is said to have removed to the valley of the Conoco-
cheague. About 1730, he commenced trading with the Shawnees
on the Conemaugh, and Kiskiminetas, and a little later, on the
Allegheny.
Chartier's principal seat on the Allegheny was Chartier's,
Town, sometimes called Chartier's Old Town and Neucheconneh's
Town, located near the site of Tarentum, Allegheny County. No
doubt he and the Shawnee chief, Neucheconneh founded Char-
tier's Town, about 1734. Chartier carried on a large trade with
the Shawnees, and was the trusted interpreter in many councils
between the Shawnees and the Colonial Authorities. However,
he yielded to French influence, and, in the summer of 1745, with
about four hundred Shawnees, deserted to the French. He and
his followers went from his seat on the Allegheny, thence down
the Allegheny and Ohio, robbing English traders as they de-
scended the rivers. At Logstown, they made an unsuccessful
attempt to have the aged Shawnee chief, Kakowatcheky, join
128 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
them. They proceeded on down the Ohio to the mouth of the
Scioto, at which place another Shawnee settlement had been
made possibly a decade before, and known for many years after-
wards as the Lower Shawnee Town. From the Lower Shawnee
Town, Chartier and his Shawnees proceeded southward along
the Catawba Trail, and established a town about twelve miles
east of the site of the present town of Winchester, Kentucky.
Their object was to be nearer the French settlements on the Mis-
sissippi.
Some time after Chartier's desertion, many of his followers
returned, among these being Neucheconneh and his band. In
1747, the Council of the Six Nations placed the Oneida chief,
Scarouady, in charge of Shawnee affairs, with his central seat at
Logstown. Shortly thereafter, Neucheconneh, with Kako-
watcheky, applied submissively to Scarouady to intercede for the
returned Shawnees with the Colonial Authorities. Then, at a
meeting on July 21st, 1748, at Lancaster, with the commissioners
appointed by the Colony to hold a conference with the Six Na-
tions, Twightwees and other Indians, the apology of the former
deserters was received. At this meeting, the Shawnee chief,
Tamenebuck, the famous Cornstalk of later years, eloquently
pled that the misled Shawnees be forgiven. Said he: "We pro-
duce to you a certificate of the renewal of our friendship in the
year 1739, by the Proprietor and Governor. Be pleased to sign
it afresh, that it may appear to the world we are now admitted
into your friendship, and all former crimes are buried and entirely
forgotten."
The request of Tamenebuck was rejected. The commission-
ers refused to sign the certificate, and the Shawnees were told that
it was enough for them to know that they were forgiven on condi-
tion of future good behavior, and that when that condition was
performed, it would be time enough for them to apply for such
testimonials. It is not known whether Weiser advised this course
or not, but it is certain that he could have prevented it, and in-
duced the Colonial Authorities to make a valuable peace with the
Shawnees now when they were so submissive and humble. Other
tribes received presents at this Lancaster conference, but the
Shawnees only had their guns mended. They went away in dis-
grace, brooding over such treatment. Arriving at their forest
homes in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, they were met
by the sympathizing French, and, in a few short years, became
allies of the French, in the French and Indian War, and spread
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 129
terror, devastation and death throughout the Pennsylvania settle-
ments. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 4, page 757 ; Vol. 5, pages 311 to 315.)
Efforts to make Peace Between the Iroquois
and the Southern Indians
As early as 1744, many Shawnees of the upper part of the Ohio
began to move down this stream to the mouth of the Scioto, and
it was believed that the Catawbas were the instigators of this
action. Fearing that, not only the Catawbas, but the whole
Muskokee Confederation would join the French, Virginia and
Carolina renewed their efforts to bring about a peace between
the Catawbas and Iroquois; and Governor Gooch of Virginia
wrote Governor Thomas of Pennsylvania in November of that
year advising that the Catawbas were willing to make peace and
requesting that Conrad Weiser get in touch with the Six Nations
in the matter.
Accordingly Weiser was sent once more to Onondaga on a
peace mission. On May 19th, 1745, in company with Shikellamy,
Shikellamy's son, Andrew Montour (son of Madam Montour),
Bishop Spangenberg of the Moravian Church and two other
Moravian missionaries, this veteran Indian Agent of the Colony
of Pennsylvania set out from Shamokin for Onondaga, at which
place he arrived on the 6th day of June. Weiser urged the Onon-
daga Council to enter into peace negotiations with the Catawbas
for the sake of the Governors of Virginia and Pennsylvania, if
for no other reason. The Black Prince of the Onondagas, the
speaker of the Iroquois, replied that the Great Council would be
willing to send deputies to Philadelphia to meet the deputies of
the Catawbas, but that they could not be sent until the summer
of 1746.
At this point we call attention to the fact that, at the Albany
Treaty, held in October, 1745, between the Six Nations and New
York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, in an un-
successful attempt to persuade the Iroquois to take up arms
against the French in King George's War, the matter of the Ca-
tawba war again came up, but was not pressed. On that occasion,
Canassatego explained to Thomas Laurence, John Kinsey, and
Isaac Norris, the Commissioners from Pennsylvania, that the
chiefs of the Six Nations were not able to restrain their young
warriors from making raids into the Catawba country until peace
was declared. The Great Council of the Six Nations had all it
130 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
could do, at that time, to preserve neutrality in the struggle be-
tween the French and English, known as King George's War. In
fact the Iroquois and Catawba War went on intermittently until
1769.
Shikellamy and Weiser found the Great Council at Onondaga
very much incensed at the conduct of Peter Chartier, in deserting
to the French and leading a band of Shawnees down the Ohio.
They asked why Pennsylvania did not declare war against him
at once.
The reason why Bishop Spangenberg and the other Moravian
missionaries accompanied Shikellamy and Weiser on this journey,
was that the Moravians at that time had a project on foot to
transfer their mission at Shekomeko, New York, to the Wyoming
Valley, on the North Branch of theSusquehanna,in Pennsylvania;
and this necessitated negotiations with the Great Council at
Onondaga to whose dependencies Wyoming belonged. Count
Zinzindorf had held a conference with the great Iroquois chief-
tain, Canassatego, at Weiser's home near Womelsdorf , in August,
1742, when the Iroquois deputies were returning from the treaty
of 1742, at which conference the Moravians were given permission
by the Iroquois to establish their missions in Pennsylvania. Now
the Onondaga Council replied to the request of Bishop Spangen-
berg that they were glad to renew their contract with Count Zin-
zindorf and the Moravians, and they gave their consent to the
proposed Moravian settlement at Wyoming.
The Moravians founded the town of Bethlehem in December,
1741, which has ever since been the central seat of the Moravian
Church in America. Later, they established a mission at Frieden-
sheutten, near Bethlehem, another called Friedensheutten, (Tents
of peace), the Indian town of Wyalusing, Bradford County,
another at Gnadenhuetten (Tents of grace), near Weissport, in
Carbon County, another at Shamokin, the great Indian capital,
and another at Wyoming, Luzerne County. They also established
missions in the western part of the state. These were at and in
the vicinity of the Munsee Delaware town of Goschgoschunk,
near Tionesta, Forest County, and Friedensstadt (City of peace)
on the Beaver, in Lawrence County. In 1772, the Moravian
missionaries, John Etwein and John Roth, conducted the con-
gregation from Wyalusing to Friedensstadt on the Beaver. The
efforts of the Moravian Church to convert the Delawares and
other Indians of Pennsylvania to the Christian faith is one of the
most delightful chapters in the history of the Commonwealth.
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 131
The First Embassy to the Indians of the Ohio
Soon after the first Delawares and Shawnees of Eastern Penn-
sylvania went to the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio, Penn-
sylvania traders followed them to their new forest homes. The
first mention of both these traders and the region of the Ohio and
Allegheny, in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, is in the
minutes of a conference held at Philadelphia, July 3rd to 5th,
1727, reported in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 3,
pages 271 to 276, between the Provincial Council and a number of
chiefs of the Six Nations, in which the chiefs requested that
"none of the traders be allowed to carry any rum to the remoter
parts where James Le Torte trades, that is Allegheny on the
Branches of Ohio." Even at this early day, French agents and
traders also were among the Delawares and Shawnees of the
Allegheny and Ohio; for, in the minutes of this same conference,
we find a reference to a "fort" (no doubt a trading house), which
the French had erected in the Allegheny Valley. Throughout the
passing years, the Pennsylvania trader and the Frenchman sought
to gain first place in the hearts of the Indians of these valleys.
After the Lancaster Treaty of 1744, the Indian trade of Penn-
sylvania increased in these valleys and spread as far as the shores
of the Great Lakes and the banks of the Wabash, and, at the
same time, the French became more active among the Indians
in this trackless wilderness.
Two Pennsylvanians realized the importance of keeping the
Indians of the western region on friendly terms with the Colony.
One was George Croghan, the "king of traders," who wrote to
Richard Peters of the Provincial Council, on May 26th, 1747, that
"some small presents" should be sent the Indians dwelling in
the region of Lake Erie. The other was Conrad Weiser, who
wrote Richard Peters, on July 20th, 1747, that "a small present
ought to be made to the Indians on Lake Erie to acknowledge
the receipt of theirs. It may be sent by some Honest Trader. I
think George Croghan is fit to perform it. I always took him for
an honest man, and have as yet no Reason to think otherwise of
him." The present to which Weiser refers was a French scalp
and some wampum which the Lake Erie Indians had just sent
by the hand of Croghan for the Governor of Pennsylvania.
Croghan had just returned from a trading journey among them,
and had found them unfriendly to the French. (See Penna.
Archives, Vol. 1, pages 742, 761 and 762.)
132 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Later, in the summer of 1747, it was decided by the Colonial
Authorities to send a handsome present to the Indians of the
Ohio and Lake Erie. George Croghan was selected as the person
to carry the Pennsylvania present to the shores of the Ohio and
while arrangements were being made for the mission, ten chiefs
from Kuskuskies, among whom was Canachquasy, came to Phila-
delphia in November, and gave the Provincial Council authentic
information of the operations of the French in the western region.
They were told by President Palmer that Croghan would bring
the Pennsylvania present the following spring. This information
soon reached the shores of the Ohio.
Accordingly Croghan took the present to the Indians of the
Ohio, in the spring of 1748. At Logstown, on April 28th, he held
council with the chiefs of several tribes, and gave them the present
of powder, lead, vermillion and flints. When he began to dis-
tribute the articles, he found they were not enough to satisfy the
fifteen hundred Indians, and so he added much from his own
trading stores. He told the Indians that, in answer to their
complaints against the whiskey traders, the Governor had issued
a proclamation forbidding the carrying of this liquor into the
Indian country. Finally he told them that Conrad Weiser would
come with a much larger present, on behalf of Pennsylvania,
about the first of August.
Conrad Weiser arrived at Logstown on the evening of August
27th as the head of what is generally called the first embassy ever
sent by the Colony of Pennsylvania to the Indians of the Ohio
and Allegheny, although it would be more nearly correct to say
that Croghan's mission of the preceeding April was the first. The
Indians had been anxiously awaiting his coming. He notes in
his journal that when they saw him, "great joy appeared in their
countenances." Weiser distributed the goods making up the
Pennsylvania present, and held many conferences with the In-
dians during his two weeks stay among them. He visited the
Delaware town of Sawcunk at the mouth of the Beaver and sent
Andrew Montour, who accompanied him, to Kuskuskies to sum-
mon the chiefs of that place to councils at Logstown. Kuskuskies
was a group of villages on the upper Beaver, its centre being at or
near the site of the city of New Castle.
On September 8th, Weiser requested the chiefs with whom he
held the conferences at Logstown to give him "a list of their
fighting men." The chiefs complied with this request, and under
this date he noted in his journal:
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 133
"The following is the number of every Nation given to me by
their several Deputies in Council in so many sticks tied up in a
bundle: The Senecas, 163; Shawonese, 162; Owendaets (Wyan-
dots), 100; Tisagechroanu, 40; Mohawks, 74; Onondagers (Onon-
dagas), 35; Mohickons, 15; Cajukas (Cayugas), 20; Oneidas, 15;
Delawares, 165; in all, 789."
While at Logstown, Weiser made George Croghan's trading
house his headquarters. He raised the British flag over this
famous Indian town. On September 11th, he and Croghan
smashed an eight gallon keg of rum which the trader, Henry
Norland, had brought to the town. Among the noted sachems
with whom he held important conferences were the Oneida chief,
Tanacharison, also called the Half King, and the Oneida chief,
Scarouady, who, upon the death of Tanacharison in the autumn
of 1754, became his successor as "Half King." Tanacharison
promised Weiser that he would keep Pennsylvania posted as to
the movements of the French in the valleys of the Ohio and
"Let us," said he, "keep up true correspondence, and always hear
of one another." His protestation of friendship for the English
was sincere. He remained faithful to the English interest to the
end of his eventful life. Before leaving Logstown, Weiser paid a
visit to the aged and infirm Shawnee chief, Kakowatcheky, and
presented him with a blanket, a coat, stockings and tobacco.
Kakowatcheky had removed from Wyoming to Logstown in 1743
taking many of his tribe with him.
This embassy to the Delawares, Shawnees, Senecas and other
Indians on the Ohio was eminently successful. It left Pennsyl-
vania in possession of the Indian trade from Logstown to the
Mississippi and from the Ohio to the Great Lakes. Moreover,
its success was most gratifying to all the frontier settlers. Not
only Pennsylvania, but Maryland and Virginia were active in
following up the advantage thus gained. A number of Maryland
and Virginia traders pushed into the Ohio region, and presently
the Ohio Company, formed by leading men of Virginia and
Maryland, among whom were George Washington's half-brothers,
Lawrence and Augustine, sought to secure the Forks of the Ohio.
For Weiser's journal of this important mission, the reader is
referred to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 5, pages 348
to 358.
Death of Shikellamy
On the 17th day of December in the eventful year of 1748,
occurred the death of Shikellamy, "Our Enlightener," the most
picturesque and historic Indian character that ever lived in Penn-
134 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
sylvania. As we have seen, his residence was at Sunbury. Con-
rad Weiser, in the later years of the old chief's life, had built him
a substantial house which rested upon pillars for safety, and in
which he always shut himself up when any drunken frolic was
going on in the village. He had been taken ill in Philadelphia,
but so far recovered that he had visited his old friend, Weiser,
at his home near Womelsdorf, in April, 1748, and was able to com-
plete his journey to Shamokin. Upon his return to Shamokin,
he was again taken ill, and in June the Provincial Council was
advised that he was so ill that he might lose his eyesight; but he
recovered sufficiently to make a trip to Bethlehem early in Decem-
ber, On his return from that place, he became so ill that he
reached home only by the assistance of the Moravian missionary,
David Zeisberger. His daughter and Zeisberger were with him
during his last illness and last hours. David Zeisberger and
Henry Frye made the old chief a coffin, and the Indians painted
the body in their gayest colors, bedecked it with his choicest orna-
ments, and placed with it the old chief's weapons according to the
Indian custom. Then, after Christian burial services, conducted
by David Zeisberger, Shikellamy was buried in the Indian bury-
ing ground of his people in the present town of Sunbury.
Shikellamy left to mourn him his three sons and a daughter.
Another son. Unhappy Jake, was killed in the war with the
Catawbas. The three sons who survived were: (1) Taghnegh-
doarus, also known as John Shikellamy, who succeeded his hon-
ored and distinguished father in authority, but never gained the
confidence with which the father was held by both the Indians
and the whites; (2) Taghahjute, or Sayughdowa, better known in
history as Logan, Chief of the Mingoes, having been given the
name of James Logan by Shikellamy, in honor of the distinguished
secretary of the Provincial Council ; (3) John Petty. His daughter
was the widow of Cajadies, known as the "best hunter among all
the Indians," who died in November, 1747. After the death of
Shikellamy, Shamokin (Sunbury) rapidly declined as a center of
Indian afifairs, as his son who succeeded him was not able to
restrain the Indians under his authority.
Among the tributes which have been paid to this great chief-
tain are the following: "He was a truly good man, and a great
lover of the English," said Governor Hamilton, of the Colony of
Pennsylvania. Said Count Zinzindorf, Moravian missionary,
who, like all the prominent leaders of the Moravian Church, had
been kindly received by Shikellamy: "He was truly an excellent
SHIKELLAMY'S MARKER, NEAR HIS GRAVE, AT SUNBURY, PA.
A number of years ago, the great Vice-Gerent's grave was opened, and his
pipe, a British medal and a number of other articles belonging to him were
found therein. His grave is near the bridge leading to Northumberland.
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 135
and good man, possessed of many noble qualities of mind, that
would do honor to many white men, laying claims to refinement
and intelligence. He was possessed of great dignity, sobriety and
prudence, and was particularly noted for his extreme kindness to
the inhabitants with whom he came in contact." Also, the Mora-
vian historian, Loskiel, says of him: "Being the first magistrate,
and the head chief of all the Iroquois Indians living on the banks
of the Susquehanna, as far as Onondaga, he thought it incumbent
upon himself to be very circumspect in his dealings with the white
people. He assisted the Missionaries in building, and defended
them against the insults of the drunken Indians; being himself
never addicted to drinking, because, as he expressed it, he never
wished to become a fool."
The dust of this astute Iroquois statesman reposes at Sunbury
on the banks of his long loved Susquehanna; and, as one stands
near his grave and looks at the high and rocky river hill on the
opposite side of the river, he beholds a strange arrangement of the
rocks on the mountainside, resembling the countenance of an
Indian warrior, and known locally as "Shikellamy's Profile."
Thus, his face carved by nature's hand in the imperishable rock,
gazes on the region where "Our Enlightener" had his home for so
many years.
The Purchase of 1749
On July 1, 1749, a number of Seneca, Onondaga, Tutelo, Nan-
ticoke, and Conoy chiefs came to Philadelphia to interview Gov-
ernor Hamilton, with reference to the settlements which the
white people were making "on the other side of the Blue Moun-
tains." This delegation had gone first to Wyoming, the place
appointed for the gathering of the deputies of the various tribes,
had waited there a month for the other deputies, and then decided
to go on to Philadelphia. Governor Hamilton advised the chiefs
that the Province had been doing everything in its power to pre-
vent persons from settling on lands not purchased from the In-
dians. Immediately after the conference the Governor issued a
proclamation, which was distributed throughout the Province,
and posted upon trees in the Juniata and Path valleys, and other
places where settlers had built their homes beyond the Blue
Mountains, ordering all such settlers to remove from these lands
by the first of November. As has already been related in this
chapter, these settlers were removed by Conrad Weiser, George
136 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Croghan, Benjamin Chambers, James Galbraith and others, in
May, 1750, acting under orders of Lieutenant-Governor Morris.
The delegation of chiefs had left Philadelphia but a short time
when Governor Hamilton received word from Conrad Weiser that
the other Indian deputies, who had failed to join the previous
delegation at Wyoming, were at Shamokin (Sunbury) on their
way to Philadelphia. The Governor then sent word to Weiser,
urging him to divert this new delegation from coming to the city.
Weiser did all in his power to carry out the Governor's orders,
but the Indians soon let him see that they were determined to go
on to Philladelphia, at which place they arrived on the 16th of
August, numbering two hundred and eighty, and led by Canassa-
tego, the speaker at the former treaties at Lancaster and Phila-
delphia.
Canassatego was the speaker of the Indian delegation at the
conferences which were then held with the Governor and Provin-
cial Council. When advised of the efforts that Pennsylvania had
made to prevent her people from settling on unpurchased land,
Canassatego excused the Government for this, saying: "White
people are no more obedient to you than our young Indians are
to us." He thus also excused the war parties of young Iroquois
who went against the Catawbas. Canassatego further offered to
remedy the situation by saying that the Iroquois were "willing to
give up the Land on the East side of Susquehannah from the
Blue Hills, or Chambers' Mill to where Thomas McGee [McKee],
the Indian trader, lives, and leave it to you to assign the worth of
them." This great Iroquois statesman complained especially of
the settlements on the branches of the Juniata, saying that these
were the hunting grounds of the Nanticokes and other Indians
under the jurisdiction of the Iroquois. He told the Governor that,
when the Nanticokes had trouble with Maryland, where they
formerly lived, they had been removed by the Six Nations and
placed at the mouth of the Juniata, and that there were three
settlements of the tribe still remaining in Maryland. These latter,
he explained, wished to join their relatives in Pennsylvania, but
that Maryland would not permit them to do so, "where they
make slaves of them and sell their Children for Money." He then
asked the Governor to intercede with the Governor of Maryland
to the end that the Nanticokes in Maryland might be permitted
to join their brethren on the Juniata. Explaining why the pro-
posed treaty with the Catawbas had not taken place, Canas-
satego said that King George's War breaking out had prevented
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 137
them from getting together, "and now we say we neither offer nor
reject Peace." He also let it be known that he did not believe
that the Catawbas were sincere in their offers of peace.
Governor Hamilton then took up with Canassatego the pro-
posed sale of lands, and, after much discussion, the Six Nations'
deputies sold to the Colony of Pennsylvania a vast tract of land
between the Susquehanna and the Delaware, including all or parts
of the present counties of Dauphin, Northumberland, Lebanon,
Schuylkill, Columbia, Carbon, Luzerne, Monroe, Pike and
Wayne. This is known in Pennsylvania history as the "Pur-
chase of 1749," the deed having been signed on the 22nd of
August of that year. Nutimus joined in the deed as chief of the
Delawares at Nutimus' Town, at the mouth of Nescopeck Creek,
Luzerne County. Also, Paxinosa, then residing at Wyoming,
and the leading chief of the Shawnees of Eastern Pennsylvania,
joined in this deed.
Celoron's Expedition
In the summer of 1749, the year following the treaty of Aix-la-
Chapelle, which ended King George's War, Marquis de la Galis-
soniere, then Governor-General of New France, sent Captain
Celoron de Bienville with a detachment composed of one captain,
eight subaltern officers, six cadets, one chaplain, twenty soldiers,
one hundred and eighty Canadians and about thirty Indians,
approximately half of whom were Iroquois, down the valleys of
the Allegheny and Ohio to take formal possession of the region
drained by these rivers for Louis XV of France. Coming down
Conewango Creek to the Allegheny, Celoron, on July 29th,
buried a leaden plate on the bank of the river, opposite the mouth
of the Conewango, with an inscription thereon proclaiming that
all the region drained by the "Beautiful River" and tributaries
belonged to the Crown of France forever. This plate was after-
wards stolen by some Indians, and several Cayuga chiefs carried
it to Sir William Johnson at his residence on the Mohawk, on
December 4th, 1750. Then, on January 29th, 1751, Governor
George Clinton of New York sent a copy of the inscription on the
plate to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania.
As Celoron floated down the beautiful and majestic rivers,
whose forest-lined banks were clothed with the verdure of mid-
summer, he buried other leaden plates, mostly at the mouths of
tributary streams. One of these was buried near the "Indian
God Rock," on the east side of the Allegheny, seven or eight miles
138 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
below Franklin; one at the mouth of the Monongahela; one at
the mouth of the Muskingum, and one at the mouth of the Great
Kanawha. The one at the mouth of the Muskingum was found
in 1798, and the one at the mouth of the Great Kanawha was
found in 1846. The former has been preserved by the American
Antiquarian Society, and the latter by the Virginia Historical
Society. Several others were buried at places which cannot be
definitely ascertained. The last was buried at the mouth of the
Great Miami, where Celoron left the Ohio returning to Canada
by way of Detroit.
On his way down the Allegheny and Ohio, Celoron stopped at
the principal Indian towns and held conferences with the natives,
— at the village of Cut Straw, also called Buccaloons, at the mouth
of Brokenstraw Creek in Warren County; at Venango (Franklin);
at Attique or Attigue (Kittanning); at Chartier's Town, on or
near the site of Tarentum; at Logstown and at other places. At
Venango he found the English trader, John Frazer, who was
driven from that place by the French in the summer of 1753, and
removed to the mouth of Turtle Creek on the Monongahela. At
Kittanning, he found that the inhabitants had fled to the woods,
although he had sent Joncaire ahead to that place to request its
chiefs to await his arrival without fear. At Chartier's Town, or
probably at Logstown, he found six English traders with fifty
horses and one hundred and fifty bales of fur. Ordering these
traders to remove, he sent a letter to Governor Hamilton of Penn-
sylvania, telling him to warn his traders "not to return into these
territories" of the French King. This letter was dated August
6th. At or near the site of Pittsburgh, he met Queen Allaquippa
of the Senecas, whom he describes in his journal as "entirely
devoted to the English." At Logstown, which he reached on
August 8th, he ordered the British flag which Conrad Weiser had
placed there the preceeding September, to be torn down and the
French flag to be raised in its place. At his village on the Miami,
Celoron held a conference with Old Britian, or La Demoiselle
(the Young Lady), the great chief of the Miamis, and endeavored
to draw him into a French alliance, but without success. The
Joncaire brothers, Philip and Chabert, who for many years had
been active agents of the French among the Indians of the Ohio
and Allegheny, accompanied this historic expedition, as did
Contrecoeur, who afterwards built Fort Duquesne, and M. de
Villiers, who compelled Washington to surrender at Fort Neces-
sity, July 4th, 1754.
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 139
On June 30th, 1749, Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania,
received a letter from Governor Clinton, of New York, advising
that he had received information that an army of French was
about to make its way into the valley of the "Belle Riviere."
This was, of course, Celoron's expedition, just described. Gover-
nor Hamilton sent word to George Croghan to go to the Allegheny
to ascertain "whether any French were coming into those parts,
& if any, in what numbers & what appearance they made, that
the Indians might be apprised & put upon their guard." (See
Penna. Col. Rec, Vol. V., page 387.) Croghan arrived at Logs-
town immediately after Celoron had left, and, in councils with
Tanacharison and Scarouady, counteracted the influence of
the Frenchman.
Attention is called to the fact that, before Croghan left Logs-
town Tanacharison and Scarouady gave him three deeds for
large tracts of land, about 200,000 acres in all. A large part of
the city of Pittsburgh and all the towns on the south side of the
Ohio River as far as the mouth of Raccoon Creek, in Beaver
County, are located on two of these tracts. The third tract,
60,000 acres, was located on the Youghiogheny in the region of
the mouth of Big Sewickley Creek, Westmoreland County. These
were the first grants of land by the Indian to the white man in the
valley of the Ohio. Croghan must have dated the deeds back
about a week, as they bear date of August 2nd. Two of these
deeds are recited in the records of the office of the Recorder of
Deeds of Westmoreland County, one in deed book. No. A. page
395, and the other in deed book. No. A, page SIL
The Virginia Treaty at Logstown
Shortly after the forming of the Ohio Company, in 1748, the
King of England granted the company two hundred thousand
acres of land to be taken on the south side of the Allegheny and
Ohio between the Kiskiminetas River and Buffalo Creek and on
the north side of the Ohio between Yellow Creek and Cross
Creek, or in such other part of the region west of the Allegheny
Mountains as the company should think proper. The grant
contained the condition that the company should settle one
hundred families thereon within seven years and erect a fort*. On
the company's compliance with this condition, it was to receive
three hundred thousand acres more, south of the first grant. The
company built a storehouse at Will's Creek (Cumberland, Mary-
*The Ohio Company requested Pennsylvania Germans to settle on these lands. They declined ,
as they desired clergymen of their own language and faith (Lutheran and Reformed) instead of
clergymen of the established church of Virginia (Episcopal). Later hundreds of German fam-
ilies received Pennsylvania titles to lands in this region. (Writings of Washington, by Sparks,
Vol. 2, page 481).
140 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
land), and, in 1751, opened a road towards the Ohio as far as
Turkey Foot, Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania claimed that a large
part of the company's grant was within the bounds of Charles
IPs charter to William Penn ; and a dispute between Pennsylvania
and Virginia, with reference to these lands, continued with vary-
ing degrees of intensity until its happy consummation in the
Act of the Assembly of Pennsylvania, passed April 1, 1784.
As we have seen, Pennsylvania was following up the advant-
ages gained by Croghan's and Weiser's embassy to Logstown in
1748. In the meantime the Colony of Virginia had not relin-
quished its claim to the Ohio Valley. In June, 1752, the com-
missioners of Virginia, Joshua Fry, L. Lomax, and James Patton,
held a treaty with the Delawares, Shawnees, and Mingoes of the
Ohio Valley, at Logstown. Christopher Gist, the agent of the
Ohio Company, George Groghan, and Andrew Montour were
present, the latter acting as interpreter. The Great Council of
the Six Nations declined to send deputies to attend the treaty.
Said they: "It is not our custom to meet to treat of affairs in the
woods and weeds. If the Governor of Virginia wants to speak
with us, and deliver us a present from our father [the king], we
will meet him at Albany, where we expect the Governor of New
York will be present."
The object of the treaty was to obtain from the Indians a con-
firmation of the Lancaster Treaty of 1 744, by the terms of which
Virginia claimed that the Iroquois had ceded to her their right to
all lands in the valley of the Ohio. The task of the Virginia com-
missioners was not an easy one for the reason that the Pennsyl-
vania traders had prejudiced the Indians against Virginia. How-
ever, the commissioners secured permission to erect two forts and
to make some settlements. Tanacharison, who was present and
took a prominent part in the negotiations, advised that his broth-
ers of Virginia should build "a strong house" at the mouth of
the Monongahela to resist the designs of the French. A similar
request had been made to the Governor of Pennsylvania by the
chiefs at Logstown when George Crogan was at that place in
May, 1751.
The Virginians, we repeat, laid claim to all the lands of the
Ohio Valley by virtue of the purchase made at the treaty of
Lancaster, in 1744, in which the western limit of the Iroquois
sale was set forth as the "setting sun." Conrad Weiser had
advised the Governor of Pennsylvania that the Six Nations never
contemplated such sale, explaining that by the "setting sun" was
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 141
meant the crest of the Allegheny Mountains, the divide between
streams flowing to the Atlantic Ocean on the East and the Miss-
issippi River on the West. At this Logstown treaty one of the
Iroquois chiefs told the Virginia commissioners that they were
mistaken in their claims. The chiefs agreed with the commis-
sioners not to molest any settlements that might be made on the
southeast side of the Ohio. At the treaty, two old chiefs, through
an interpreter, said to Mr. Gist: "The French claim all on one
side of the river [the Ohio], and the English all on the other side.
Where does the Indian's land lie. " This question Gist found
hard to answer.
During the proceedings of the Virginia treaty, Tanacharison,
as the representative of the Six Nations, bestowed, on June 11th,
the sachemship of the Delawares on Chief Shingas, later called
King Shingas, believed by many authorities to have been a
nephew of the great Sassoonan, since whose death, in the autumn
of 1747, the kingship of the Delawares had been vacant. Also,
Tanacharison's friendship for George Croghan was shown at this
treaty. He spoke of him as "our brother, the Buck, who is ap-
proved by our Council at Onondaga."
As to the kingship of Shingas, we call attention to the fact
that he was not really king of the three Delaware Clans. He
belonged to the Turkey Clan. As pointed out, in Chapter II,
the head chief of the Turtle Clan was regarded as king of the
three Clans of Delawares.
Tanacharison Forbids French to Advance
In the early part of the summer of 1753, the French, coming
from Canada, erected Fort Presqu' Isle, where the city of Erie
now stands, and later in the same year erected Fort Le Boeuf,
where Waterford, Erie County, now stands. But before the
erection of these forts, or on May 7, 1753, a message was sent
down from Venango to George Croghan at his trading house, near
the mouth of Pine Creek, about six miles up the Allegheny from
the mouth of the Monongahela, by the trader, John Frazer, to
the effect that the French were coming with three brass cannon,
amunition and stores. Croghan and his associates were thrown
into consternation. On the following day, two Iroquois runners
from the Great Council House at Onondaga brought similar news;
and on May 12th, a message was received from Governor Hamil-
ton, of Pennsylvania, stating that he had received word from Sir
142 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
William Johnson, of New York, that a large French expedition
was marching towards the Ohio for the purpose of expelling the
English and erecting forts.
The entire party at Croghan's Pine Creek trading house looked
to him as leader. A conference was at once held there with
Tanacharison and Scarouady. After much deliberation, the
sachems decided "that they would receive the French as friends,
or as enemies, depending upon their attitude, but the English
would be safe as long as they themselves were safe." Croghan's
partners, Teafee and Calendar, taking with them the two messen-
gers who had brought Governor Hamilton's warning, returned
to Philadelphia, on May 30th, and reported in person. The fol-
lowing day. Governor Hamilton laid the report of Teafee and
Calendar before the Pennsylvania Assembly, which, on the same
day, made an appropriation of eight hundred pounds for guns and
amunition for the friendly Indians on the Ohio. A large part of
the Assembly's appropriation was to be a present of condolence
to the Twightwees on account of the murder of their king, "Old
Britain," at his village on the Miami, on June 21, 1752, by a
band of Ottawas and Chippewas, led by Charles Langlade, a
Frenchman, of Detroit.
For more than three months. Governor Hamilton held this
money. In the meantime, Tanacharison and Scarouady, on
June 23d, wrote Governor Dinwiddle, of Virginia, appealing for
help in resisting the French invasion. In September, these chiefs
sent a delegation of one hundred deputies to Winchester, Vir-
ginia, to arrange for aid and supplies at a treaty then and there
held between Virginia, in the interest of the Ohio Company, and
the Six Nations and their tributary tribes in the valley of the
Ohio, — the Delawares, the Shawnees, the Miamis or Twightwees,
and the Wyandots. Scarouady headed the delegation of Indian
deputies.
While attending the Winchester treaty, the Indians heard of
the appropriation which had been voted by the Pennsylvania
Assembly; and thereupon, although no invitation had been re-
ceived by them, they sent a portion of their deputies, under the
leadership of Scarouady, to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to ascertain
whether the report were true. This delegation consisted of a
number of the important chiefs of the Six Nations, Delawares,
Shawnees, Twightwees, or Miamis, and the Owendats, or Wyan-
dots. Governor Hamilton sent Conrad Weiser, Richard Peters,
Isaac Norris, and Benjamin Franklin to Carlisle to meet these
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 143
deputies, October 1st to 4th, 1753. George Croghan was present
to give advice. These commissioners had gone to Carlisle without
presents, and they had Conrad Weiser interview one of the chiefs
to ascertain if it were not possible to go through the forms of
condolence on the promise to pay when the goods should arrive
later. The chief replied that his people could and would not do
any public business while the blood of their tribe remained upon
their garments, and that "nothing would wash it unless the
presents intended to cover the graves of the departed were
actually spread upon the ground before them."
Presently the presents arrived and were distributed.
While the commissioners and Indians were awaiting for the
goods to arrive, Conrad Weiser learned from Scarouady that,
when the Ohio Indians received the messages in May, 1753, ad-
vising them of the threatened French invasion, they at once sent
a warning to the French, who were then at Niagara, forbidding
them to proceed further toward the Ohio Valley. This notice not
deterring the French, the Indians then held a conference at Logs-
town, and sent a second notice to the French when they were
approaching the headwaters of French Creek, as follows:
"Your children on Ohio are alarmed to hear of your coming so
far this way. We at first heard that you came to destroy us.
Our women left off planting, and our warriors prepared for war.
We have since heard that you came to visit us as friends without
design to hurt us, but then we wondered you came with so strong
a body. If you have had any cause of complaint, you might have
spoken to Onas or Corlear [meaning the Governors of Pennsyl-
vania and New York], and not come to disturb us here. We have
a Fire at Logstown, where are the Delawares and Shawnees and
Brother Onas; you might have sent deputies there and said
openly what you came about, if you had thought amiss of the
English being there, and we invite you to do it now before you
proceed any further."
The French replied to this notice, stating that they would not
come to the council fire at Logstown ; that they meant no harm to
the Indians; that they were sent by command of the king of
France, and that they were under orders to build four forts, — one
at Venango, one at the Forks of the Ohio, one at Logstown, and
another on Beaver Creek. The Ohio Indians then held another
conference, and sent a third notice to the French, as follows:
"We forbid you to come any farther. Turn back to the place
from whence you came."
144 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Tanacharison was the bearer of this third notice to the French,
the equivalent of a declaration of war, and very likely, of the
other two. Before the conference at Carlisle ended, it was
learned that Tanacharison had just returned to Logs town from
delivering the third notice; that he had been received in a very
contemptuous manner by the French; and that, upon his return,
had shed tears, and actually warned the English traders not to
pass the Ohio.
For account of the Carlisle Conference of October, 1753, the
reader is referred to the Pennsylvania Colonial Records, Vol. 5,
pages 665 to 686.
Washington's Mission to the French
The necessity for prompt and energetic action for the vindica-
tion of the rights of the English in respect to the valleys of the
Ohio and Allegheny became apparent to Governor Dinwiddle of
Virginia shortly after Celeron's expedition in the summer of 1749.
The French energetically seeking to ingratiate themselves with
the Indians of this region, Governor Dinwiddle, in the summer of
1753, sent Captain William Trent to expostulate with the French
commander on the Ohio for his invasion of this territory. Captain
Trent did not have the qualities necessary for a fit performance
of his duties. He came to the Forks of the Ohio (Pittsburgh), and
then proceeded to the Indian town of Piqua, in Ohio, where
Christopher Gist and George Croghan had been well received
some time before. Discovering that the French flag waved there
and that the aspect of things on the frontier was more threatening
than he had anticipated, Trent abandoned his purpose and re-
turned to Virginia.
Governor Dinwiddle then resolved upon the appointment of
Captain Trent's successor; but it was a difficult task to find a
person of the requisite moral and physical capacity for so respon-
sible and dangerous an enterprise. The position was offered to
several Virginians, by all of whom it was declined, when Din-
widdle received an intimation that it would be accepted by
George Washington, then a youth of twenty-one years. Wash-
ington had recently come into possession of the fine estate of
Mount Vernon, upon the death of his half-brother, Lawrence,
and had, therefore, unusual temptations to avoid such a hazar-
dous untertaking. But Washington's whole constitution was
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 145
heroic. A constant patriot, he did not shrink from any honorable
service, however dangerous, which he could render his country.
He therefore accepted the appointment and, on the very day he
received his commission, October 31st, 1753, he started on his
dangerous journey of more than five hundred miles through the
wilderness to deliver to St. Pierre, commander of the French
forces on the headwaters of the Allegheny, the protest of Gover-
nor Dinwiddie against the encroachments of the French on terri-
tory claimed by the English.
On November 1st, Washington arrived at Fredericksburg,
where he arranged with Jacob Van Braam, a Dutchman, who had
been his old fencing master and who claimed to have a knowledge
of the French language, to be his interpreter. Washington and
Van Braam then proceeded to Alexandria, where they procured
a supply of provisions. Proceeding from that place to Win-
chester, they procured baggage and horses, and from there pro-
ceeded to Wills Creek (Cumberland, Maryland), at which place
they arrived on November 14th.
At Wills Creek, Washington engaged Christopher Gist, as he
says in his journal, "to pilot us out." Gist was a surveyor, and
during the years, 1750 and 1751, had made a journey through the
Ohio Valley, exploring the region as the agent of the Ohio Com-
pany. With only one companion on this journey, Gist proceeded
through the wilderness to the Allegheny River, arriving at the
same at Shannopin's Town, named for the Delaware chief, Shann-
opin, a few miles above the mouth of the Monongahela. Swimming
the Allegheny at this place, he and his companion then pro-
ceeded to what is now the central part of Ohio, thence back to
Virginia through the heart of Kentucky, many years before
Daniel Boone penetrated its wilderness. It is thus seen that
Christopher Gist was well fitted by experience in the wilderness
"to pilot" Washington through the forests to the French forts.
At Wills Creek, Washington hired four servants, Barnaby
Currin and John McGuire, who were Indian traders, and Henry
Stewart and William Jenkins. He and his companions left Wills
Creek on November 15th, and on November 22nd, arrived at the
cabin of John Frazer, an Indian trader, at the mouth of Turtle
Creek. Frazer, as has been seen, had been driven away from
Venango by the French in the summer of 1753. From Frazer's,
Washington and Gist went overland to Shannopin's Town.
From Shannopin's Town, they proceeded to the mouth of the
Monongahela, where they met their baggage which had been
146 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
brought down the Monongahela from Frazer's by the others of
Washington's party.
While at the mouth of the Monongahela, Washington was im-
pressed by the desirability of the place for the erection of a fort.
From this place, he and his companions proceeded to the site of
the present town of McKees Rocks, where he met the Delaware
chief, Shingas, and invited him to accompany them to Logstown,
at which latter place they arrived on November 24th. At Logs-
town, Washington held many conferences with Tanacharison
and Scarouady, concerning the encroachments of the French.
At this famous Indian town, the party was detained until Novem-
ber 30th, on which day they set out for Venango by way of the
Venango Indian Trail, accompanied by Tanacharison, Jeskakake,
White Thunder, the Hunter, or Guyasuta and John Davidson,
Indian interpreter. On December 4th, the entire party arrived
at Venango, which Washington describes in his journal as "an
old Indian town, situated at the mouth of French Creek, and
Ohio, and lies north about sixty miles from Logstown, but more
than seventy miles by the way we were obliged to go."
At Venango, they found the French colors hoisted on the trad-
ing house from which the French had driven the trader, John
Frazer. Washington immediately went to this house and in-
quired where the commander resided. There were three French
officers present, one of whom was Captain Joncaire, who in-
formed him that it would be necessary for him to deliver Gover-
nor Dinwiddle's protest to the commander of Fort Le Boeuf,
situated on the site of the present town of Waterford, Erie
County. The French officers at Venango treated Washington
very courteously and invited him to dine with them which in-
vitation he accepted, and during the course of the meal, the
officers let it be plainly known that the French were determined
to use every means in their power to retain possession of the dis-
puted territory.
At this point we anticipate events somewhat by stating that,
in April, 1754, the French erected Fort Machault at Venango
(Franklin). The English referred to it as "the French fort at
Venango." In 1760, after the close of the French and Indian
War, the English erected Fort Venango near where Fort Machault
had stood.
Washington remained at Venango until December 7th. During
this time, the French officers used every art in their power to
alienate Tanacharison from the English interest. Leaving Ven-
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 147
ango, Washington and his companions proceeded up French
Creek to Custaloga's Town, located about twelve miles above the
mouth of French Creek and near the mouth of Deer Creek in
French Creek Township, Mercer County, and named for the
Delaware chief, Custaloga. From Custaloga's Town, they went
up French Creek to the Indian town of Cussewago, located on
the site of Meadville, Crawford County, and thence to Fort Le-
Boeuf (Waterford), at which place they arrived on December
11th. The journey up French Creek was very difficult, by reason
of rains, mires and swamps. It was impossible to cross the creek,
"either by fording or rafting, the water was so high and rapid."
On December 12th, Washington delivered to St. Pierre, the
commander of Fort Le Boeuf , the protest of Governor Dinwiddie.
This protest demanded that the French depart from the disputed
region. St Pierre's reply was that he would transmit Governor
Dinwiddie's protest to Marquis Duquesne, Governor of Canada,
"to whom," he observed, "it better belongs than to me to set
forth the evidence and reality of the rights of the King, my
master, upon the lands situated along the river Ohio, and to
contest the pretensions of the King of Great Britain thereto."
St. Pierre, like the French officers at Venango, treated Washing-
ton with courtesy, but did all in his power to alienate Tanachari-
son and the other Indians from the English interest. He gave
them liquor and presents. Commenting on the efforts of the
commander and his officers, Washington says in his journal:
"I can not say that ever in my life I suffered so much anxiety as I
did in this affair." Under this terrible strain, Washington re-
mained alert and carefully observed that the fort was garrisoned
by more than one hundred men and officers and that there were
two hundred and twenty canoes in readiness, and many more in
process of being built, for the purpose of conveying the French
forces down the river in the spring.
Having received St. Pierre's reply, Washington and his com-
panions left Fort Le Boeuf on December 16th, and arrived at
Venango on December 22nd, after "a tedious and very fatiguing
passage down the creek." The next day, all of Washington's
party except Tanacharison and White Thunder started from
Venango by the same route which they had followed in the
journey from Logstown to that place. White Thunder was sick
and unable to walk, and so Tanacharison took him down the
Allegheny in a canoe. After Washington and his companions
had journied three days on the way south, the horses became
148 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
weak, feeble and almost unable to travel. Accordingly, on
December 26th, Washington and Gist proceeded ahead on foot,
leaving the rest of the party to follow by easy stages with Van
Bream in charge of the horses and baggage.
Indian Attempts to Kill Washington
On the evening of December 27th, an incident occurred in
Washington's journey back to Virginia that has world wide
publicity. We refer to the attempt of a hostile Indian to kill
him. The exact location of this attempt to kill the future Father
of his Country will remain forever unknown, but the approximate
location is a few miles from Evans City, Butler County. We shall
let Washington relate the incident in his own words as he wrote
them in his journal:
"The day following [December 27th], just after we had passed a
place called Murdering Town (where we intended to quit the
path and steer across the country for Shanapin's Town), we fell
in with a party of French Indians, who had laid in wait for us.
One of them fired at Mr. Gist or me, not fifteen steps off, but
fortunately missed. We took this fellow into custody, and kept
him until about nine o'clock at night, then let him go, and walked
all the remaining part of the night, without making any stop,
that we might get the start so far as to be out of reach of their
pursuit the next day, since we were assured they would follow our
track as soon as it was light. The next day we continued travel-
ling until quite dark, and got to the river [Allegheny] about two
miles above Shahapins."
Christopher Gist, in his journal, describes the attack on Wash-
ington in more detail. He says that he and Washington met this
Indian at Murdering Town, and believed that they had seen him
at Venango. The Indian called Gist by the latter's Indian name
and pretended to be very friendly. After some conversation with
the Indian, Washington and Gist asked him to accompany them
and show them the nearest way to Shannopin's Town. The
Indian seemed very glad to accompany them. He led the way
from Murdering Town, but seemed to take a course too much to
the north-east, which caused both Washington and Gist to mis-
trust him. Finally, when they came to a snow-covered meadow,
the Indian suddenly turned and fired at Washington. He was
immediately seized and disarmed before he could re-load his
rifle. Gist wanted to kill him on the spot, but Washington would
STATUE TO GEORGE WASHINGTON, ON SITE OF
FORT LE BOEUF, WATERFORD, PA.
The statue represents him in the act of delivering the protest of Gov-
ernor Dinwiddle to St. Pierre.
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 149
not permit him to do so. After he was kept in custody until late
in the evening, they let him go. Says Gist: "He was glad to get
away. I followed him and listened until he was fairly out of the
way, and then we set out about half a mile, when we made a fire,
set our compass, and fixed our course, and travelled all night."
For many years, the author felt that a suitable monument
should be erected to mark the approximate spot where the hostile
Indian attempted to take the life of Washington. During the
year 1924, he wrote several articles for the "Butler Eagle,''
Butler, Pennsylvania, in an effort to arouse interest in the work
he had in mind. These appeals through the newspaper brought
results. A committee, consisting of Hon. A. E. Reiber, Captain
James A, McKee, and the author, erected such monument in the
autumn of 1924, and on July 3rd, 1925, it was unveiled with ap-
propriate exercises. The author had the honor of delivering the
historical address on this occasion.
At this point, the author asks that the reader indulge him in
making the statement that he traces his love for the history of
Pennsylvania to the story of the attack on Washington by the
hostile Indian on that December evening of 1753, told him under
the following circumstances: On the farm on which he was
reared in Armstrong County, the ancestral home of his paternal
ancestors since 1795, is a high hill, commanding a majestic sweep
of the horizon in all directions. To the eastward, the blue out-
line of the Chestnut Ridge can be seen, on a clear day, almost
fifty miles away, while to the westward are the undulating hills of
Butler County. One of his earliest recollections is that of his
accompanying his revered mother to this hilltop on summer
evenings and, with her, watching the sun set in floods of gorgeous
and golden beauty behind the western hills. On those occasions
she told him that the western region, where the sun was setting,
was Butler County, and that it was in this county where George
Washington was shot at by a hostile Indian in the dead of winter
and in the depth of the forest. The author shall always cherish
the recollection of those summer evenings, when, as a child in
company with his mother in the grace and beauty of her young
womanhood, he watched those golden sunsets bathe the Butler
County hills in glory, and in his fancy, pictured the region of the
sunset as an enchanted land, inhabited by the ghosts and shadows
of the past and hallowed by the footsteps of Washington.
Students of the life of Washington are familiar with the fact
that, in crossing the Allegheny on his journey back to Virginia,
150 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Washington was almost drowned in its icy waters. He and Gist
were crossing the stream on a raft which they had made. Wash-
ington thrust out his pole to propel the raft, but it was caught
between blocks of ice with such force as to throw him into the
water. Swimming to an island near the Washington Crossing
Bridge in the city of Pittsburgh, Washington almost froze to
death during the terrible night. This incident took place on
December 29th.
On December 30th, Washington and Gist arrived at John
Frazer's cabin, at Turtle Creek. The next day, they paid a visit to
Queen Allaquippa, who was then residing where McKeesport
now stands. Washington presented her with a coat and a bottle
of rum, "which latter," he said, "was thought much the best
present of the two."
On January 2nd, 1754, Washington and Gist arrived at the
latter's plantation near Mount Braddock, Fayette County, where
some Virginia families had settled at least as early as the spring
of 1753, On January 6th, they arrived at Wills Creek. On the
same day, they "met seventeen horses loaded with materials and
stores for a fort at the Forks of the Ohio, and the day after, some
families going out to settle." Washington arrived at Williams-
burg, then the capital of Virginia, on January 16th, and delivered
St. Pierre's reply.
The war between the Iroquois and the Cherokees and Catawbas
was being carried on during the winter of 1753 and 1754, accord-
ing to the following statement in Washington's journal, under
date of December 30th or 31st, 1753:
"We met here [at Frazer's, at the mouth of Turtle Creek, on
the Monongahela] with twenty warriors, who were going to the
southward to war; but coming to a place on the head of the Great
Kanawha, where they found seven people killed and scalped, (all
but one woman with very light hair) they turned about and ran
back for fear the inhabitants should rise and take them as the
authors of the murder. They report that the bodies were lying
about the house, and some of them much torn and eaten by the
hogs. By the marks which were left, they say they were French
Indians of the Ottoway nation, and who did it."
The author has narrated Washington's mission rather fully
on account of its historical importance and for the reason that
Pennsylvanians should know the details of the perils which the
youthful Washington encountered on Pennsylvania soil in his haz-
ardous journey through the wilderness. As a closing statement,
INDIAN EVENTS FROM 1701 TO 1754 151
attention is called to the fact that Washington's journal, which
was widely published in both England and America, reciting his
experiences and giving information of vital import as to the plans
for the French for occupying the valleys of the Ohio and Alle-
gheny, made him an outstanding figure in the Colonies.
Clash of Arms About to Begin
This chapter has been devoted to a narration of the leading
events in the Indian history of Pennsylvania from the departure
of William Penn, in 1701, to the opening of the French and Indian
War, the author's purpose being to prepare the reader for a study
of the events about to be related. In the next chapter, we shall
see the breaking of the storm which had long been gathering
over the waters of the Ohio.
CHAPTER V
Opening of the French and
Indian War
The French Occupy the Forks of the Ohio
IN January, 1754, George Croghan and Andrew Montour were
sent to Logstown by Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania, to
ascertain from Tanacharison and Scarouady a full account of the
activities of the French in the valleys of the Allegheny and Ohio,
the attitude of the Western Indians, and what assistance in the
way of arms and ammunition Virginia had given these Indians.
Croghan and Montour found some French soldiers at Logstown,
and most of the Indians drunk. John Patten, a trader, who ac-
companied Croghan and Montour, was captured by the French,
but Tanacharison caused his release. The Pennsylvania emissaries
remained at Logstown until February 2nd. They found the In-
dians determined to resist the French. A few days before they
left, Tanacharison, Scarouady, and Shingas addressed a speech to
Governor Hamilton in which they said: "We now request that
our brother, the Governor of Virginia, may build a strong house
at the Forks of the Mohongialo [Monongahela], and send some of
our young brethren, the warriors, to live in it. And we expect
our brother of Pennsylvania will build another house somewhere
on the river, where he shall think proper, where whatever assis-
tance he will think proper to send us may be kept for us, as our
enemies are just at hand, and we do not know what day they may
come upon us."
On February 20th, Andrew Montour was closely examined by
Governor Hamilton and the Pennsylvania Assembly as to the
location of Shannopin's Town, Logstown and Venango. Montour
proved that these towns were all within the limits of the Province
of Pennsylvania; but the Assembly decided that the encroach-
ments of the French on the Ohio and Allegheny did not concern
Pennsylvania any more than they did Virginia. In the mean-
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 153
time, Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, commissioned Captain
William Trent to raise a force of one hundred men and proceed to
the Forks of the Ohio to erect a fort at that place. Trent raised
a force of seventy men and at once proceeded to Cumberland,
Maryland; thence along the Nemacolin Indian Trail to Gist's
Plantation (Mount Braddock, Fayette County, Pa.); thence by
the Redstone trail to the mouth of that creek, where he built a
storehouse; thence to the Forks of the Ohio. He arrived at the
Forks of the Ohio on February 17th, and immediately began the
erection of a fort, called Fort Trent. As Washington was return-
ing to Virginia from his mission to St. Pierre, he met part of the
Virginia force, the company consisting of Captain Trent, Lieu-
tenant John Frazer (the former trader at Venango and the mouth
of Turtle Creek) and Edward Ward, ensign.*
After the work of erecting Fort Trent was well started, Captain
Trent returned to Will's Creek (Cumberland, Maryland), leaving
Ensign Edward Ward, a half-brother of George Croghan, in com-
mand. The French on the upper Allegheny were promptly
warned of the arrival of Trent's forces, and with the opening of
spring, marshalled their forces, to the number of about one
thousand, including French-Canadians and Indians of various
tribes, with eighteen cannon, in all a flotilla of about sixty
battaux and three hundred canoes, and descended the Allegheny
from Le Boeuff and Venango. The French forces arrived at the
Forks of the Ohio on the evening of the 16th of April, under com-
mand of Captain Contrecoeur. Planting his artillery, Contre-
coeur sent Chevalier Le Mercier, Captain of the artillery of
Canada, with a summons to Ensign Ward, demanding immediate
surrender. This was the first overt act of war on the part of the
French, in the conflict known as the French and Indian War.
Ward thus found himself surrounded by a force of one thous-
and French and Indians with the fort still uncompleted. Lieu-
tenant Frazer was at his house at Turtle Creek at the time.
The Half King, Tanacharison, was present, and advised En-
sign Ward to reply to the demand of Contrecoeur that he was not
an officer of rank to answer the demand, and to request a delay
until he could send for his superior in command. Contrecoeur,
however, refused to parley; whereupon. Ward, having less than
forty men, and, therefore, being utterly unable to resist the oppos-
ing force, prudently surrendered the half-finished stockade with-
out further hesitation.
Contrecoeur, upon the surrender of Ward, treated him with
*The Ohio Company had intended to erect a fort at the mouth of Chartiers Creek, where
McKees Rocks, Allegheny County, now stands.
154 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the utmost politeness, invited him to sup with him, and wished
him a pleasant journey back to Virginia. The French commander
permitted him to withdraw his men, and take his tools with him;
and on the next morning, he started on his return to Virginia
going up the Monongahela to the mouth of Redstone Creek
(Brownsville, Fayette County), where the Ohio Company had a
stockade, erected by Trent on his way to the Ohio Valley. George
Croghan, about the time Trent began erecting the fort at the
Forks of the Ohio, had contracted with the Ohio Company to
furnish provisions for Trent's forces, valued at five hundred
pounds, from the back parts of Pennsylvania; and half of these
were on their way to the Ohio when Contrecoeur captured the
fort.
The French then took possession of the half-finished fort,
completed it early in June, and named it Fort Dusquesne, in
honor of Marquis DuQuesne, then the Gdvernor-General of
Canada, In the meantime, the French destroyed Croghan's
trading house at Logstown, taking 20,000 pounds of skins and
furs.
Washington's Campaign of 1754
While Captain William Trent was engaged in the work of
erecting a fort at the Forks of the Ohio, in the early part of 1754,
Colonel Joshua Fry, with George Washington second in com-
mand, was raising troops in Virginia to garrison the fort Trent
was building. On April 2nd, Washington, with the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel, marched from Alexandria, Virginia, with a
detachment of two companies of infantry, commanded by Cap-
tain Peter Hogg and Lieutenant Jacob Van Braam, the latter
being Washington's interpreter on his mission to the French in
the latter part of 1753. About fifteen days later, he was joined
by Captain Stephen with a company of men. On April 20th,
Washington's forces reached Old Town, Maryland and received
information of the surrender of Ensign Ward at the Forks of the
Ohio. On April 22nd, Washington reached Will's Creek, where
he met Ward and learned the details of his surrender. On April
23d, a council of war was held at Will's Creek, at which it was
agreed that it would be impossible to march to the Forks of the
Ohio without reinforcements, but that it would be proper to
advance as far as Redstone Creek, on the Monongahela, about
thirty-seven miles this side of the fort [Fort Duquesne], and there
to raise a fortification, "clearing a road wide enough to pass with
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 155
all our artillery and baggage, and there to await for fresh orders."
At Redstone [Brownsville, Fayette County, Pa.], a storehouse
had been erected, as we have already seen, by Captain William
Trent when on his way to the Forks of the Ohio. Here Washing-
ton's cannon and ammunition could be stored until reinforce-
ments should arrive. From Will's Creek, Washington sent En-
sign Ward to report to Governor Dinwiddie and a runner to
notify Tanacharison, the Half King, of his intention to advance
to Redstone with his force of one hundred and fifty men.
Let us now follow Washington as he advances into Pennsyl-
vania over the Nemacolin Indian Trail, in the first military
campaign of his illustrious career. On April 25th, he sent a de-
tachment of sixty men to open the road towards Redstone, which
detachment was joined by the main body on May 1st. On May
9th, Washington's forces reached the Little Crossings (Grants-
ville.Md.), having crossed over Will's Mountain, Dan's Mountain,
Big Savage Mountain, Little Savage Mountain and Meadow
Mountain. On May 11th, Washington sent out a scouting party
from the Little Crossings, in command of Captain Stephen and
Ensign Peyronie, with instructions to advance along the line of
march as far as Gist's Plantation (Mount Braddock, Fayette
County) in an effort to discover scouting parties of the French.
On May 12th, Washington's forces left the Little Crossings,
fording the Castleman River, and, on the same day, the com-
mander received word that Colonel Fry was at Winchester,
Virginia, with about one hundred and fifty men, and would join
him in a few days; also that Colonel Innis would soon join him
with three hundred and fifty men. On May 16th, two traders,
fleeing from the French, who had been seen near Gist's Plantation,
joined Washington's forces, while, on May 17th, Ensign Ward
returned from Williamsburg, Virginia, with the word that Captain
Mackay, with an Independent Company of one hundred and
fifty men, was on his way to join the forces of the future Father
of his Country.
On May 18th, Washington and his troops reached the Great
Crossings of the Youghiogheny, at Somerfield, Somerset County,
Pennsylvania. Here they were obliged to remain several days
on account of the swollen condition of the river. Washington had
been told by the two traders, above mentioned, that it was not
practicable to open a road to Redstone. Therefore, while at the
Great Crossings, he determined to examine the Youghiogheny to
ascertain whether or not guns and baggage could be transported
156 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
down this stream; and, on May 20th, with four white men and
an Indian, he went down the river in a canoe as far as Ohiopyle
Falls, in Fayette County, and found the stream too rocky and
rapid for navigation. On May 21st, he returned to Turkey Foot
(Confluence, Somerset County), where he seems to have had an
intention of building a fort. From Turkey Foot, Washington
returned to his camp at the Great Crossings, from which place
he led his forces to the Great Meadows, situated along the Na-
tional Pike, a few miles east of the Summit, in Fayette County,
arriving there on the afternoon of May 24th. "I hurried to this
place," says Washington, "as a convenient spot. We have, with
nature's assistance, made a good entrenchment, and by clearing
the bushes out of the meadows, prepared a charming field for an
encounter." Also, on May 24th, two Indian runners came to
Washington from the Ohio, with a message from Tanacharison,
informing him that the French had marched from Fort Duquesne
to meet the Virginians and that Tanacharison would soon join
him with other Indian chiefs from the Ohio region.
Also, on the afternoon of May 24th, a trader came to the Great
Meadows with the information that he had been at Gist's Planta-
tion the evening before, had seen two Frenchmen there, and had
heard that French troops were near Stewart's Crossing, now
Connellsville, Fayette County. The next day, Washington sent
out several scouting parties from the Great Meadows to examine
the woods, the road leading to Gist's Plantation and the sur-
rounding region, in an effort to locate the French force. The
scouts returned the same evening without having located the
French.
Christopher Gist visited Washington's camp at the Great
Meadows early in the morning of May 27th, coming from his
plantation at Mount Braddock, thirteen miles distant, and re-
porting that on May 26th, M. La Force, with fifty French soldiers
had been at his plantation the day before, and that on his way to
Washington's camp, he had seen the tracks of the same party only
five miles from the encampment at the Great Meadows. Tan-
acharison, with a number of his warriors was but six miles from
the Great Meadows, and a little after eight o'clock on the night
of the same day, May 27th, he sent Washington intelligence that
he had seen the tracks of Frenchmen, and had traced them to an
obscure retreat. Washington feared that this might be a strata-
gem of the French for attacking his camp, and so, placing his
ammunition in a place of safety and leaving a strong guard to
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 157
protect it, he set out before ten o'clock with a band of soldiers,
and reached Tanacharison's camp a little before sunrise, march-
ing through a heavy rain, a night of intense darkness and the
obstacles offered by an almost impenetrable forest. In a letter
to Governor Dinwiddle, he says: "We were frequently tumbled
over one another, and often so lost that fifteen or twenty minutes'
search would not find the path again."
Just a word, at this point, as to the number of soldiers Wash-
ington had with him on this night march through the forest.
Most historians have placed the number as forty, but Washing-
ton's notes indicate that he left forty soldiers to guard the camp
at the Great Meadows and took the rest of his force with him.
It will be recalled that his whole force, at that time, consisted
of one hundred and fifty men.
Tanacharison Helps Washington Fight First
Battle of His Career
At early dawn (May 28th), Washington held a council with
Tanacharison at the latter's camp, which was near a spring, now
known as Washington's Spring, about two miles north of the
Summit on the old National Pike, near Uniontown; and it was
agreed at this council to unite in an attack upon the French,
Washington's forces to be on the right and Tanacharison's war-
riors on the left. The French were soon traced to an almost in-
accessible rocky glen in the Allegheny Mountains, about three
miles north of the Summit. The forces of Washington and Tan-
acharison advanced until they came so near as to be discovered
by the French, who instantly ran to their arms. The firing con-
tinued on both sides for about fifteen minutes, when the French
were defeated with the loss of their whole party, ten of whom
(some authorities say twelve), including their commander, M. de
Jumonville, were killed, one wounded, and twenty-one taken
prisoners. Of the prisoners, the two most important were an
officer named Drouillon, and the redoubtable LaForce. The
prisoners were marched to the Great Meadows, and from there
sent over the mountains to Virginia. Of Washington's party,
only one was killed, and two or three were wounded. Tanachari-
son's warriors sustained no loss, as the fire of the French was
aimed exclusively at Washington and his soldiers.
It is said that Washington fired the first shot in this skirmish,
the opening conflict of the French and Indian War. Jumonville
158 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
was buried where he fell, and a tablet marks the spot where his
remains lie. The warriors of Tanacharison and Scarouady
scalped the dead Frenchmen, and sent their scalps and a string of
black wampum to the tribes on the Ohio, with the request that
they take up arms against the French. The scene of this en-
counter, the first battle of Washington's illustrious career and an
event that changed the course of modern history, is almost as wild
and primitive as it was on that fateful morning of the 28th day of
May, 1754.
At a council held at Philadelphia on December 19th, 1754, be-
tween Governor Morris of Pennsylvania, and Scarouady, Jagrea,
a Mowhawk, and Aroas, a Seneca, the said Scarouady gave the
following account of events leading up to the fight with Jumon-
ville and the part that the Indian allies took in the same:
"This belt [holding up a belt of wampum] was sent by the
Governor of Virginia and delivered by Captain Trent. You see
in it the representation of an hatchet. It was an invitation to us
to join with and assist our brethren to repel the French from the
Ohio. At the time it was given, there were but four or five of us,
and we were all that knew any thing about the matter; when we
got it, we put it into a private pocket on the inside of our garment.
It lay next to our breasts.
"As we were on the road going to Council with our brethren, a
company of French, in number thirty-one, overtook us and desired
us to go and council with them ; and when we refused, they pulled
us by the arm and almost stripped the chain of covenant from off
it, but still I would suffer none to go with them. We thought to
have got before them, but they passed us; and when we saw they
endeavored to break the chain of friendship, I pulled this belt out
of my pocket and looked at it and saw there this hatchet, and then
went and told Colonel Washington of these thirty-one French
Men, and we and a few of our brothers fought with them. Ten
were killed, and twenty-one were taken alive whom we delivered
to Colonel Washington, telling him that we had blooded the edge
of his hatchet a little."
John Davidson, the Indian trader, acted as interpreter, at the
above council. He was in the action, and gave Governor Morris
the following account of the same :
"There were but eight Indians, who did most of the execution
that was done. Colonel Washington and the Half King [Tana-
charison] differed much in judgment, and on the Colonel's re-
fusing to take his advice, the English and Indians separated.
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 159
After which the Indians discovered the French in an hollow and
hid themselves, lying on their bellies behind a hill ; afterwards they
discovered Colonel Washington on the opposite side of the hollow
in the gray of the morning, and when the English fired, which
they did in great confusion, the Indians came out of their cover
and closed with the French and killed them with their toma-
hawks, on which the French surrendered."
In writing to his brother, John Augustine, Washington, refer-
ring to the engagement with Jumonville said:
"I have heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, there is
something charming in the sound."
This remark was reported later to George the Second, King of
England, who commented: "He would not say so if he had been
used to hearing many.
Washington Gives Tanacharison an English Name
Two days after the death of Jumonville, Colonel Fry died at
the camp at Will's Creek on his way to join the army, and the
chief command now devolved upon Colonel Washington. Wash-
ington immediately commenced enlarging the intrenchment at
the Great Meadows, and erecting palisades, anticipating an at-
tack from the French. The palisaded fort at the Great Meadows
having been completed, Washington's forces were augmented to
three hundred by the arrival from Will's Creek of the forces which
had been under Colonel Fry. With these was the surgeon of the
regiment. Dr. James Craik, a Scotchman by birth, who was
destined to be a faithful friend of Washington throughout the
remainder of his life, and was present at his bedside, when he
closed his eyes in death within the hallowed walls of his beloved
Mount Vernon.
On the 9th of June, Washington's early instructor. Adjutant
Muse, George Croghan and Andrew Montour, then Provincial
Captain, arrived at the Great Meadows with reinforcements,
powder and ball. Adjutant Muse brought with him a belt of
wampum, and a speech from Governor Dinwiddle to Tanachari-
son, with medals and presents for the Indians under his com-
mand. Says Washington Irving in his classic "Life of Washing-
ton " : ' 'They were distributed with that grand ceremonial so dear
to the Red Man. The chiefs assembled, painted and decorated
in all their savage finery. Washington wore a medal sent to him
by the Governor for such occasions. The wampum and speech
160 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
having been delivered, he advanced, and, with all due solemnity,
decorated the chiefs and the warriors with the medals, which they
were to wear in remembrance of their father, the King of Eng-
land." Among the warriors thus decorated, was Canachquasy,
the son of old Queen Allaquippa, who, with her son, had arrived
at the Great Meadows on June 1st. Upon his decoration
Canachquasy was given the English name of Lord Fairfax. Tana-
charison was given the English name of Dinwiddle on this occa-
sion, and returned the compliment by giving Washington the
Indian name of Connotaucarius.
On the 10th day of June, Washington wrote Governor Dinwid-
dle from the camp at the Great Meadows, concerning the decora-
tion of Canachquasy, as follows:
"Queen Allaquippa desired that her son, who was really a great
warrior, might be taken into Council, as she was declining and
unfit for business; and that he should have an English name given
him. I therefore called the Indians together by the advice of the
Half-King, presented one of the medals, and desired him to wear
it in remembrance of his great father, the King of England ; and
called him by the name of Colonel Fairfax, which he was told
signified 'the First in Council.' This gave him great pleasure."
At the end of the ceremonies of giving English names to Tana-
charison and Canachquasy, Washington read the morning service
of the Episcopal Church. Dr. James Craik, who was present,
said, in a letter home, that the Indians "believed he was making
magic."
Washington Advances to Gist's Plantation
On the 10th of June, there was great agitation in the camp at
the Great Meadows over the report that a party of ninety French-
men were approaching, which report was later found to be in-
correct. On the same day, Captain Mackay of the Royal Army,
in command of an independent company of one hundred riflemen
from South Carolina, arrived at the Great Meadows, increasing
Washington's forces to about four hundred men. The arrival of
these forces encouraged Washington. He now hoped to capture
Fort Duquesne, and selected Mount Braddock as his battle
ground. Leaving one company under Captain Mackay to guard
the fort, Washington pushed on over the Laurel Hill as far as
Christopher Gist's Plantation at Mount Braddock, near Connells-
ville, Fayette County. So difficult was the passage over Laurel
Hill that it took approximately two weeks for Washington's
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 161
forces to reach Gist's plantation from Great Meadows, a distance
of thirteen miles. Washington's Indian allies Tanacharison, Sca-
rouady and others, refused to accompany him as far as Gist's, and
returned to the Great Meadows. The trouble was that Washing-
ton and Tanacharison could not agree as to the method of con-
ducting the campaign. On the 27th of June, Washington had sent
a party of seventy men under Captain Lewis to clear a road from
Gist's to the mouth of the Redstone (Brownsville), and another
party under Captain Poison was, on the same day, sent ahead to
reconnoiter.
While these movements of Washington's forces were taking
place, a force of five hundred French and some Indians, after-
wards augmented to about four hundred, left Fort Duquesne on
the 28th of June to attack Washington, the French being com-
manded by M. DeVilliers, a half-brother of Jumonville, who it is
said, sought the command from Contrecoeur as a special favor
that he might avenge his half-brother's "assassination." This
force went up the Monongahela in large canoes, and on the 30th
of June, reached the mouth of Redstone, and encamped on the
rising ground about half a mile from the stockade, which, it will
be recalled. Captain Trent had erected during the preceding
winter as a storehouse for the Ohio Company. M. DeVilliers
described it as "a sort of fort built of logs, one upon another, well
notched in, about thirty feet long and twenty feet wide."
While at the mouth of the Redstone, M. DeVilliers learned
that Washington's forces were entrenching themselves at Gist's
plantation. He thereupon disencumbered himself of all his heavy
stores, and leaving a sergeant and a few men to guard the boats,
pushed on in the night, cheered by the hope that he was about to
capture the forces of Washington. Arriving at Gist's Plantation
in the early morning of July 2nd, he saw the intrenchments which
Washington had there begun to erect, at once invested them, and
fired a general volley. No response came from the intrenchments ;
for the prey had escaped. However, at Mr. Gist's house, some
Indians with the French captured Elizabeth Williams and three
of James Lowrey's traders, named Andrew McBriar, John Ken-
nedy and Nehemiah Stevens. (Pa. Col. Rec. Vol. 6, pages 142-
143.) M. DeVilliers was then about to retrace his steps, when a
deserter named Barnabas Devan, coming from the Great Mea-
dows, disclosed to him the whereabouts and the half-famished
condition of Washington's forces. Having made a prisoner of the
deserter with a promise to reward or hang him after proving his
162 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
story true or untrue, M. DeVilliers continued the pursuit. While
he is pursuing Washington, we will relate how the latter's forces
escaped capture.
At Gist's Plantation, on June 28th, Washington held a council
of war, upon receipt of intelligence that the French in large num-
bers, accompanied by many Indians, were marching against him.
At this council, it was resolved to send a message to Captain
Mackay, who was then at the Great Meadows, desiring him to
join Washington at once, and also to call in Captain Lewis and
Captain Poison, who, as we have seen, had been sent forward to
cut the road from Gist's to Redstone, and to reconnoiter. Captain
Mackay and his company arrived on the evening of the 28th, and
the foraging parties on the morning of the 29th, when a second
council of war was held, and it was decided to retreat as speedily as
possible. In order to expedite the retreat to the Great Meadows,
Washington impressed the pack-horses of George Croghan, who
had been furnishing flour and ammunition for the Virginians.
Washington Surrenders at Fort Necessity
The troops, with great difificulty, succeeded in retreating to
the Great Meadows. Here they halted on July 1st. The suffer-
ing among Washington's forces was great. For eight days they
had no bread, and had taken little of any other food. It was not
the intention of Washington at first to halt at this place, but his
men had become so fatigued from great labor and hunger that
they could draw the swivels no further. Here, then, it was re-
solved to make a stand. Trees were felled, and a log breastwork
was raised at the fort, in order to strengthen it in the best manner
that the circumstances would permit. Washington now named
the stockade "Fort Necessity" from the circumstances attending
its erection. At this critical juncture, many of Washington's
Indian allies, under Tanacharison, deserted him, being dis-
heartened at the scant preparations of defense against the superior
force, and offended at being subject to military command. On
July 2nd, Washington received information that the French were
at Gist's Plantation.
Early on the morning of July 3rd an alarm was received from
a sentinel, who had been wounded by the enemy, and, at nine
o'clock, word was received that the whole body of the French and
Indian allies amounting, as some authorities say, to nine hundred
men, was only four miles off. Before noon, distant firing was
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 163
heard, and the enemy reached a woods about a third of a mile
from the fort. Washington had drawn his men up on the open
and level ground outside the trenches, and waited for the attack,
which he thought would be as soon as the enemy emerged from
the woods ; and he ordered his troops to reserve their fire until they
should be near enough to do execution. The French did not in-
cline to leave the woods and to attack the fort by assault. Wash-
ington then drew his men back within the trenches, and gave
them orders to fire at their discretion, as suitable opportunities
might present themselves. The enemy remained on the side of
the rising ground next to the fort, and were sheltered by the trees.
They kept up a brisk fire of musketry, but never appeared in
open view. In the meantime, rain was falling in torrents, the
trenches were filled with water, and many of the arms of Wash-
ington's men were out of order. Until eight o'clock at night —
the rain falling without intermission — both parties kept up a
desultory fire, the action having started at about eleven o'clock
in the morning. By that time, the French had killed all the
horses and cattle at the fort.
At eight o'clock at night, the French requested a parley, but
Washington, suspecting this to be a feint to procure the admission
of an officer into the fort to discover his condition, declined. They
repeated their request with the additional request than an officer
might be sent to them, they guaranteeing his safety. Washington
then sent Captain Jacob Van Braam, the only person under his
command who understood the French language, with the excep-
tion of Chevalier de Peyrouny, an Ensign in the Virginia regi-
ment, who was dangerously wounded. Van Braam returned and
brought with him from M. DeVilliers, the French commander,
the proposed articles of capitulation. Villiers was a half-brother
of the ill-fated Jumonville. Owing to the overpowering number
of the enemy, Washington decided to come to terms. After a
notification of the proposed articles, he consented to leave the
fort the next morning, July 4, 1754, but was to leave it with the
honors of war, and with the understanding that he should sur-
render nothing but the artillery.
French Accuse Washington of Having
Assassinated Jumonville
Considerable dissatisfaction was expressed with regard to
several of the articles of capitulation when they were made public.
164 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
One of these was an article, by consenting to which Washington
virtually admitted that Jumonville had been "assassinated" in
the action of May 28th. Another was an article, by consenting
to which, Washington virtually admitted the validity of the
French claim to the Ohio Valley. M. De Villiers, the com-
mandant of the French forces, in his account of the march from
Fort Duquesne and the affair at the Great Meadows said, "We
made the English consent to sign that they had assassinated my
brother in his camp." A copy of the capitulation was subse-
quently laid before the House of Burgesses of Virginia, with ex-
planations. The conduct of Washington and his officers was pro-
perly appreciated, and they received a vote of thanks for their
gallant defense of their country. However, from this vote of
thanks, two officers were excepted — Major Muse, who was
charged with cowardice, and Captain Jacob VanBraam, who was
accused of treachery in purposely misinterpreting the articles of
capitulation. The truth is that Washington had been greatly
deceived by VanBraam, through either ignorance or design. An
officer of his regiment, who was present at the reading and signing
of the articles of capitulation, wrote a letter to a friend, in which
he discusses the true intent and meaning of the articles and of
their bungling translation by VanBraam, as follows:
"When Mr. VanBraam returned with the French proposals, we
were obliged to take the sense of them from his mouth; it rained
so hard that he could not give us a written translation of them;
we could scarcely keep the candle lighted to read them by; and
every officer there is ready to declare that there was no such word
as 'assassination' mentioned. The terms expressed were 'the
death of Jumonville.' If it had been mentioned, we would by all
means have had it altered, as the French, during the course of
the interview, seemed very condescending and desirous to bring
things to a conclusion ; and, upon our insisting, altered the articles
relating to the stores and ammunition, which they wanted to de-
tain; and that of the cannon, which they agreed to have 'de-
stroyed,' instead of 'reserved for their use.'
"Another article, which appears to our disadvantage, is that
whereby we oblige ourselves not to attempt an establishment be-
yond the mountains. This was translated to us, not 'to attempt'
buildings or 'improvements on the lands of his most Christian
Majesty.' This we never intended, as we denied he had any
there, and therefore thought it needless to dispute this point.
"The last article, which relates to the hostages, is quite dif-
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 165
ferent from the translation of it given to us. It is mentioned 'for
the security of the performance of this treaty,' as well as for the
return of the prisoners. There was never such an intention on our
side, or mention of it made on theirs, by our interpreter. Thus, by
the evil intention or negligence of VanBraam, our conduct is
scrutinized by a busy world, fond of criticizing the proceedings of
others, without considering circumstances, or giving just atten-
tion to reasons which might be offered to obviate their censures.
"VanBraam was a Dutchman, and had but an imperfect
knowledge of either the French or English language. How far his
ignorance should be taken as an apology for his blunders, is uncer-
tain. Although he had proved himself a good officer, yet there
were other circumstances, which brought his fidelity in question.
Governor Dinwiddie, in giving an account of this affair to Lord
Albermarle says: 'In the capitulation they made use of the word
'assassination,' but Washington, not understanding French, was
deceived by the interpreter, who was a paltroon, and though an
officer with us, they say he has joined the French."
Also, Washington expressed himself on Van Braam's transla-
tion, as follows:
"That we were willfully or ignorantly deceived by out inter-
preter in regard to the word 'assassination,' I do aver and will to
my dying moment; so will every officer who was present. The in-
terpreter was a Dutchman little acquainted with the English
tongue, and therefore might not advert to the tone and meaning
of the word in English ; but whatever his motives were for so doing,
certain it is he called it the 'death' or the 'loss' of the Sieur Jumon-
ville. So we received and so we understood it until, to our great
surprise and mortification, we found it otherwise in a literal trans-
lation."
Washington Marches Out With Honors of War
On the morning of July 4th, Washington and his forces marched
out of the Fort with the honors of war, taking with them their
regimental colors, but leaving behind a large flag, too cumberous
to be transported. His forces set out for Will's Creek, but had
scarcely left the Great Meadows when they encountered one
hundred Indian allies of the French, who, in defiance of the terms
of capitulation, began plundering the baggage, and committing
other irregularities. Seeing that the French did not or could not
prevent their Indian allies, Washington's men destroyed their
166 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
powder and other stores, including even their private baggage, to
prevent its falling into the hands of the Indians. M. DeVilliers
sent a detachment to take possession of the fort as soon as Wash-
ington's forces defiled therefrom. Washington's regiment left
twelve dead on the ground, and the number left by Captain
Mackay's company is not known. DeVillier said that the number
of dead excited his pity. He reported that the "English have had
70 or 80 men killed or mortally wounded, and many others
slightly," that two French-Canadians were killed and seventy
wounded, and that two Indian allies of the French were wounded.
(Pa. Archives, Sec. Series, Vol. 6, pages 168-170.)
Thus ended the affair at the Great Meadows, Washington's
first and last surrender. On reaching Will's Creek, where his
half-famished troops found ample provisions in the military
magazine, he hastened with Captain Mackay, to Governor Din-
widdle, at Williamsburg, whom they particularly informed of the
events of their expedition. Washington soon thereafter resigned
his commission, and retired to private life at Mount Vernon. His
first act, after relinquishing his command, was to visit his mother,
inquire into the state of her affairs, and look after the welfare of
his younger brother and his sister, Betty. He continued his resi-
dence at Mount Vernon until the following year, when he again
entered the service of Virginia in the army of General Braddock.
DeVilliers' Indian allies were Nipissings and Algonquins from
Canada, and when he advanced from Gist's Plantation towards
Fort Necessity, they were reluctant to accompany him. At this
point, attention is called to the fact that DeVilliers had two rea-
sons, both unknown to Washington, for requesting the cessation
of hostilities, which led to Washington's surrender. One was the
fact that the Indian allies of the French commander intended to
leave him the next day, which would have reduced his force to
five hundred Frenchmen, and the other was that the French were
almost out of ammunition.
Fearing that Washington would be reinforced, the French com-
mander, after destroying Fort Necessity, the cannon and a
quantity of rum, which he did not wish to fall into the hands of
his Indian allies, hastened away from the Great Meadows. On
the morning of the 5th of July, he arrived at Gist's Plantation,
where his forces demolished the stockade whVc\v Washington had
erected. All the houses in the settlement were burned, including
one which had been built in 1753 by William Stewart, where
Connellsville now stands. On July 6th, DeVilliers' forces arrived
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 167
at Redstone (Brownsville), where they burned the storehouse or
Hangard which Captain Trent had erected near that place early
in 1754. On July 7th, they arrived at Fort Duquesne. A little
later they rebuilt Logstown which had been burned by Scarouady
about June 24th.
Washington's surrender might well have filled the English with
gloom, says Dr. George P. Donehoo, in his "Pennsylvania — A
History:"
"When Washington's force marched out of Fort Necessity,
carrying the British flag with them, the flag of France flew over
the continent from the waters of the Potomac and Susquehanna
to the Mississippi. The British dominated the narrow strip along
the Atlantic, and that was all. There was not left a single trading
house or dwelling place of the English west of the blue ridges of
mountains. France had its chain of forts connecting the posses-
sions in Canada with the Ohio Valley, and it was only a question
of time when this chain would be completed to the possessions on
the Mississippi. The prospect for the Anglo-Saxon conquest of
the continent was not a bright one."
Washington's Love for the Great Meadows
To the day of his death, Washington loved the Great Meadows.
While the spot on which Jumonville was slain is the site of the
first skirmish in which the Revolutionary General was engaged,
the Great Meadows is the the site of his first real battle. Here
he erected Fort Necessity. Here he valiantly defended the fort
against overpowering numbers and amid the drenching rain.
Here he occupied a position against which the heaviest fire of the
French and Indians was directed. Here he saw his companions
sink in death. Here he was compelled to surrender, but with
honor. It was the memory of these things that caused the Great
Meadows to have a lasting place in his afi^ections. In 1769, he
acquired a pre-emption right to two hundred and thirty-four
acres of these meadows, including the site of the fort. Later his
title was confirmed by Pennsylvania. He referred to these mea-
dows in his will; he owned them at the time of his death, and they
were sold by his executors. Throughout our country's history to
the last, may the traveler on the National Pike pause amid the
mountains of Fayette County to pay homage to the memory of
Washington on the spot where he, a Virginia youth, received his
baptism of fire and blood.
168 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Captains Van Braam and Stobo
According to the terms of Washington's capitulation, Jacob
Van Braam and Robert Stobo, the engineer of Fort Necessity,
were given up as hostages to the French until the British should
return to Fort Duquesne the French prisoners taken when Jumon-
ville was slain. The Governor of Virginia refused to return the
French prisoners, and Van Braam and Stobo were then taken to
Canada. While a prisoner at Fort Duquesne, Stobo wrote two
letters to the Governor of Virginia, which were entrusted to two
Indians friendly to the British, and safely delivered. The first
letter, written on July 28th, 1754, and sent by the Indian, Moses,
advised the Governor that the French had circulated a rumor
among the Indians at and in the vicinity of Fort Duquesne, that
Scarouady and other Indians friendly to the British had been
killed and their wives and children delivered to the Cherokees and
Catawbas for torture. The second letter, written the following
day, and sent by Delaware George, contained a sketch of Fort
Duquesne. These letters were carefully kept, and delivered to
General Braddock, when he took command of the expedition
against Fort Duquesne the following year. They were found
among his effects on the field of battle, and were sent to Canada.
Stobo, who was then a prisoner at Quebec, was tried, and sen-
tenced to be executed, but made his escape. After the close of
the French and Indian War, Van Braam lived in Wales and Eng-
land until the outbreak of the Revolution, when, much against his
will, it seems, he entered the service of the British against the
Colonies. After the close of the Revolution, Washington received
a long letter from his former fencing master and interpreter,
giving an account of his experiences after the surrender at Fort
Necessity and stating that he was spending his declining days in
France. Here this interesting character disappears from history.
(See Stobo's letters in Vol. 6 of Colonial Records of Pennsylvania,
pages 141 and 161.)
Croghan, Montour and Gist
At this point, it will be well to devote a few paragraphs to three
noted characters whom we have met a number of times thus far
in this history and who assisted Washington in his campaign of
1754, — George Croghan, Andrew Montour and Christopher Gist.
Croghan was born in Ireland and educated in Dublin. He came
to America somewhere between the years 1740 and 1744. He en-
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 169
gaged in the Indian trade and appears to have been first licensed
as an Indian trader in Pennsylvania, in 1744. In 1746, he was
located in Silver Spring Township, in the present county of Cum-
berland, a few miles west of Harris'Ferry, now Harrisburg. Dur-
ing the same year, he was made a counsellor of the Six Nations at
Onondaga, according to his sworn statement; and in March, 1749,
he was appointed by the Governor and Council of Pennsylvania
one of the justices of the peace in Common Pleas for Lancaster
County.
As early as the years 1746 and 1747, he had gone as far as the
southwestern border of Lake Erie in his trading expeditions. In
1748, he had a trading house at Logstown, which was made the
headquarters of Weiser upon his visit to the Indians of that place,
in the month of September, 1748. He had also branch trading
establishments at the principal Indian towns in the valleys of the
Ohio and Allegheny, one being on the northwestern side of the
Allegheny River, at the mouth of Pine Creek, five or six miles
above the forks of the Ohio. From this base of operations and
from Logstown, trading routes "spread out like the sticks of a
fan." One of these routes went up the Allegheny past Venango,
(Franklin), where Croghan had a trading house and competed with
John Frazer, a Pennsylvania trader from Paxtang, who for some
years, had traded at Venango, maintaining both a trading house
and gunsmith shop until he was driven off by the French, as has
already been seen. Croghan's abilities and influence among the
Indians soon attracted the attention of Conrad Weiser, who, in
1747, recommended him to the Pennsylvania Authorities, and, in
this way, he entered the service of the Province.
His part in Washington's campaign consisted in furnishing the
Virginia forces with flour and ammunition. On May 30th, 1754,
he contracted with Governor Dinwiddle, at Winchester, Virginia,
to transport to Redstone ten thousand pounds of flour by means
of packhorses. Much of the powder and lead used by Washing-
ton at Fort Necessity was furnished by Croghan and Captain
William Trent, who was his partner and brother-in-law. How-
ever, Croghan was so much delayed in furnishing flour that, as we
have seen, Washington's forces suffered greatly from hunger in
the latter days of the campaign.
The outbreak of the French and Indian War ruined Croghan's
prosperous trading business. He was brought to the verge of
bankruptcy and threatened with imprisonment for debt. Then
the Pennsylvania Assembly passed an act giving him immunity
170 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
from arrest for ten years, in order that the Province might have
the benefit of his services and influence among the Indians. To
add to his financial troubles, the Irish traders, because most of
them were Roman Catholics, fell under suspicion of acting as
spies for the French, and Croghan was unjustly suspicioned by
many in authority. He was granted a captain's commission to
command the Indian allies during Braddock's campaign, and was
at Braddock's defeat.
Early in 1756, Croghan resigned from the Pennsylvania service
and went to New York, where his distant relative, Sir William
Johnson, chose him deputy Indian agent, and appointed him to
manage the Allegheny and Susquehanna tribes. From this time,
he was engaged for several years in important dealings with the
Western Indians, and had much to do in swaying them to the
British interest and making possible the success of General Forbes,
in 1758. In 1763, he went to England on private business, and
was shipwrecked upon the coast of France. Upon his return to
America in 1765, he was dispatched to Illinois, going by way of
the Ohio River, and was taken prisoner near the mouth of the
Wabash, and carried to the Indian towns upon that river. Here
he not only secured his own release, but conducted negotiations
putting an end to Pontiac's War. He also took part in the Great
Treaty of Fort Stanwix (Rome, New York), in 1768, and, as a
reward, was given a grant of land in Cherry Valley, New York.
Shortly prior to this, however, he had purchased a tract on the
Allegheny, about four miles above the mouth of the Monongahela,
where he entertained George Washington in 1770. When the
Revolutionary War came on, it seems he embarked in the patriotic
cause, and later was an object of suspicion; and then Penn-
sylvania proclaimed him a public enemy, and his place as Indian
agent was conferred upon Colonel George Morgan. He continued,
however, to reside in Pennsylvania — the scene of his early activ-
ities and the Colony which he rendered such signal service — and
died at Passayunk on August 31, 1782. His funeral was con-
ducted at the Episcopal Church of St. Peter's in Philadelphia,
but the place of his burial remains unknown.
Croghan's Mohawk daughter became the third wife of the
celebrated Mohawk Chief, Joseph Brant.
Andrew Montour, the "Half Indian," whose Indian name was
Sattelihu, was the eldest and most noted of the children of Madam
Montour. He is one of the most picturesque Indian characters
in the early history of Pennsylvania, and accompanied George
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 171
Croghan on many of his missions to the Indians of the Ohio and
Allegheny valleys. Governor Dinwiddie gave him a captain's
commission "to head a select company of friendly Indians, as
scouts for our small army," when Virginia was raising forces for
the occupation of the Forks of the Ohio, early in 1754. Montour,
however, did not organize a company of Indians, as he had been
instructed, but raised a company of traders and woodsmen, who
had been driven from the valley of the Ohio on the approach of
the French. His company consisted of eighteen men, and with
these, he and Croghan joined Washington at the Great Meadows
on the 9th of June. Montour and his forces assisted Washington
in the battle of Fort Necessity, on July 3rd and 4th, where two of
his men, Daniel Lafferty and Henry O'Brien, were taken prisoners
In the spring of 1755, Montour and Croghan, with about fifty
Indian braves, joined Braddock's army at Cumberland ; but after
the army began to advance on Fort Duquesne, many of these
Indian allies deserted or were dismissed by Braddock. However,
Montour continued with the army and took part in its over-
whelming defeat. Throughout the French and Indian War, he
took part as interpreter in many Indian councils with the Penn-
sylvania and New York authorities, and was sent on a number of
important missions. In Pontiac's War, he was also faithful to
the English. He was one of the interpreters at the treaty with
the Six Nations at Fort Stanwix (Rome, N. Y.), in October, 1768,
at which the Penns made their last purchase of lands from the
Indians. During the year 1769, Montour was granted a tract of
three hundred acres, situated on the south side of the Ohio River
opposite Montour's Island, about nine miles below the mouth of
the Monongahela. Soon thereafter this picturesque character dis-
appears from history. A town, a creek, an island, a county, a
mountain range — all in Pennsylvania — are named for him and
his mother.
We have met Christopher Gist a number of times in this
history — as the explorer and surveyor of the Ohio Company, as
Washington's guide on his mission to St. Pierre, and in Washing-
ton's campaign of 1754. At least as early as the spring of 1753,
this noted pathfinder had made a settlement of some Virginia
families in the vicinity of what is now Mount Braddock, Fayette
County. He served faithfully in Braddock's campaign of 1755
and with his sons, Nathaniel and Thomas, was in the terrible de-
feat of the haughty British general on the banks of the Monon-
gahela. After Braddock's defeat, he raised a company of scouts
172 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
in Virginia and Maryland and rendered service on the harried
frontier, being then called Captain Gist. In 1756, he was sent to
the Carolinas to enlist the Cherokee Indians in the British service
in the French and Indian War. In 1757, he became deputy In-
dian agent in the South, a position "for which," said Washington,
"I know of no person so well qualified. He has had extensive
dealings with the Indians, is in great esteem among them, well
acquainted with their manners and customs, indefatigable and
patient." According to most authorities, he died of smallpox in
the summer of 1759, in either South Carolina or Georgia.
This trusted friend of Washington deserves to be remembered
for all time. He was one of the earliest Anglo-Saxon explorers of
the vast region comprising the states of Ohio and Kentucky. Con-
cerning this region he reported to the Ohio Company: "Nothing
is wanted but cultivation to make this a most delightful country."
(For account of Christopher Gist's explorations for the Ohio
Company, the reader is referred to W^illiam M. Darlington's
"Christopher Gist's Journals.")
The Albany Treaty and Purchase of 1754
In order to combine the efforts of the Colonies in resisting the
encroachments of the French, a conference was ordered by the
British Ministry, to be held at Albany, New York, in June and
July, 1754, to which the Six Nations were invited. Governor
Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, unable to be present, commissioned
John Penn and Richard Peters of the Provincial Council, and
Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin, of the Assembly, to attend
the conference in his stead. Conrad Weiser also attended the
conference as interpreter in the negotiations with the Six Nations.
At this conference, a plan was proposed for a political union, and
adopted on the very day that Washington surrendered at Fort
Necessity. It was subsequently submitted to the Home Govern-
ment and the Provincial Assemblies. The Home Government
condemned it, according to Franklin, on account of its being too
democratic; and the various Provincial Assemblies objected to it
as containing too much power of the King. Pennsylvania nega-
tived it without discussion.
At this Albany Conference, the title of the Iroquois to the Ohio
Valley was recognized, and the Pennsylvania commissioners
secured from the Iroquois a great addition to the Province, to
which the Indian title was not extinct. The deed, which was
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 173
signed by the chiefs of the Six Nations on July 6, 1754, conveyed
to Pennsylvania all the land extending on the west side of the
Susquehanna River from the Blue Mountains to a mile above the
mouth of Kayarondinhagh (Penn's) Creek; thence northwest by
west to the western boundary of the Province; thence along the
western boundary to the southern boundary; thence along the
southern boundary to the Blue Mountains; and thence along the
Blue Mountains to the place of beginning.
Although the Great Council of the Iroquois declared at the
Albany Treaty that they would not sell their lands in the Wyom-
ing Valley to either Pennsylvania or Connecticut, but would
reserve them as a hunting ground and for the residence of such
Indians as cared to remove from the French and settle there, and
also declared that the Onondaga Council had appointed Shikel-
lamy's son, John, in charge of this territory; yet, before the
Treaty was closed, the Mohawks very irregularly sold the Wyom-
ing lands to Connecticut.
This Albany Treaty, which secured the neutrality of the Six
Nations during the French and Indian War, was the first official
acknowledgment of the independence of the Iroquois Confedera-
tion by delegates from all the Colonies. It was a truly historic
assembly. Even until the present day, the Iroquois Confedera-
tion has been considered an independent Nation by the United
States Government. (For account of the Albany Conference and
Treaty, see Penna. Col. Rec. Vol. 6, pages 57 to 128.)
Tanacharison Complains of Washington
and Protests Albany Purchase
After the defeat of Washington at the Great Meadows, Tana-
charison and Scarouady, with some of their followers, "came down
to the back parts of Virginia," and then with Seneca George and
about three hundred Mingos (Iroquois), retreated to George Crog-
han's trading post at Aughwick, now Shirleysburg, Huntingdon
County. At about the same time, some Shawnees, Delawares,
and an inconsiderable number of renegades of the Seneca tribe of
the Six Nations, joined the French. Tanacharison and Scarouady
after retreating to Aughwick, sent out messages to assemble the
friendly Delawares and Shawnees at that place, and asked the
Colony of Pennsylvania to support their women and children
while the warriors fought on the side of the English, whom they
expected speedily to take decisive steps against the French. In
174 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
response to these messages, great swarms of excited Indians came
to Aughwick, clamoring for food, and were fed at the expense of
the Colony throughout the fall and winter. Here most of them
remained until General Braddock's army arrived at Cumberland
Maryland, in the spring of 1755, when they went to join his army.
Here, also Queen Allaquippa died in December, 1754.
George Croghan was in charge of distributing provisions and
supplies to the friendly Indians, who had assembled at Aughwick
after Washington's surrender at Fort Necessity. The bills which
he was sending the Colonial Authorities for feeding these Indians
having grown rather large, Croghan was suspicioned as not being
reliable, and finally there were hints that he was in league with
the French. The Pennsylvania Assembly then cut down his bills,
and he decided to leave Aughwick. Conrad Weiser was then
directed by the Colonial Authorities to go to Aughwick, and make
a report on Croghan. He reached this place on August 31st, 1754,
being accompanied by Tanacharison from Harris' Ferry, now
Harrisburg.
"On the way," says Weiser, "Tanacharison complained very
much of the behavior of Colonel Washington, (though in a very
moderate way, saying the Colonel was a good-natured man, but
had no experience); that he took upon him to command the In-
dians as his slaves, and would have them every day upon the
Out Scout, and attack the Enemy by themselves, and that he
would by no means take advice from the Indians; that he lay at
one place from one full moon to another, and made no fortifica-
tions at all but that little thing upon the meadow, [Fort Necess-
ity] where he thought the French would come up to him in open
field; that had he taken the Half King's advice and made such
fortifications as the Half King advised him to make, he would
certainly have beat the French off; that the French had acted as
great cowards and the English as fools in that engagement; that
he [the Half King] had carried off his wife and children; so did
other Indians before the battle begun, because Colonel Washing-
ton would never listen to them, but was always driving them on
to fight by his directions."
Weiser found that Croghan was entirely worthy of being
trusted. He also found that the inhabitants of Cumberland
County caused much trouble in selling so much strong liquor
to the Indians assembled at Aughwick. In the conferences which
he held with Tanacharison, Scarouady, King Beaver, and various
other chiefs, he completely won old Tanacharison and his people
OPENING OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR 175
back to the English cause after their anger at Washington and the
Virginians. Moreover, at these conferences, Weiser learned that
the Shawnees and Delawares had formed an alliance; that the
French had offered them presents, either to join them or to re-
main neutral, and that to these proposals, the Delawares made
no reply, but at once sent their deputies to Aughwick for the pur-
pose, as Weiser thought, of learning the attitude of the English.
Near the close of the conference, Tanacharison and Scarouady
pressed Weiser to tell them what transpired at the Albany Treaty;
and he then told them all about the purchase of the vast tract
west of the Susquehanna. "They seemed not to be very well
pleased," says Weiser, "because the Six Nations had sold such a
large tract." Weiser then explained that the purchase was made
in order to frustrate land schemes of the Connecticut interests,
and of the French on the Ohio. This appeared to satisfy them,
though they resented not receiving a part of the consideration.
For a time they were content, not knowing that the purchase in-
cluded most of the lands on the West Branch of the Susquehanna.
The Shawnee and Delaware deputies then went back to the Ohio
into danger and temptations, and to learn from the French that
their vast hunting grounds on the West Branch of the Susque-
hanna had been sold to the Province of Pennsylvania at the
Albany Treaty.
No wonder that Tanacharison and Scarouady complained to
Weiser. The Albany purchase was a very powerful factor in
alienating, not only the Delawares, but the other Indians, from
Pennsylvania. The Shawnees and Delawares of the Munsee
Clan (Monseys) in the valleys of the Susquehanna, Juniata,
Allegheny, and Ohio, thus found their lands "sold from under
their feet" which the Six Nations had guaranteed to them, so
they claimed, on their migration to these valleys. It was pro-
vided in the contract of sale of these lands that half of the pur-
chase price should be paid upon delivery of the deed, and the
remainder was not to be paid until the settlers had actually
crossed the Allegheny Mountains, and taken up their abode in
the purchased territory. The Indians declared in July, 1755, that
they would not receive the second installment, but the Mohawk
chief, Hendricks, persuaded them to stand by the deed. After
Braddock was defeated on July 9, 1755, the entire body of dis-
satisfied Indians on the Albany Purchase took bitter vengeance
on Pennsylvania. After three years of bloodshed, outrage and
murder, Conrad Weiser persuaded the Proprietaries of Pennsyl-
176 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
vania to deed back to the Indians that part of the Albany pur-
chase which lay west of the Allegheny Mountains. This was done
at the treaty at Easton, in October, 1758, which treaty will be
discussed in a later chapter.
Death of Tanacharison
After the series of conferences with Conrad Weiser at Augh-
wick, in September, 1754, Tanacharison returned to the trading
house of John Harris, at Harris' Ferry, where he became danger-
ously ill; and a conjuror, or "medicineman," was summoned to
make inquiry into the cause and nature of his malady. The
"medicineman" gave it as his opinion that the French had be-
witched Tanacharison in revenge for the great blow he had struck
them in the affair of Jumonville; for the Indians gave him the
whole credit of that success, Tanacharison having made it clear
that it was he who killed Jumonville, in revenge of the French,
who, as he declared, had killed, boiled, and eaten his father. Fur-
thermore, Tanacharison had sent around the French scalps taken
at that action, as trophies. All the friends of the old chieftain
concurred in the opinion of the "medicineman," and when Tana-
charison died at the house of John Harris, on October 4, 1754,
there was great lamentation among the Indians, mingled with
threats of immediate vengeance. Thus was this noted sachem
gathered to his fathers in the "Happy Hunting Ground," at a
time when his services and influence among the Western Indians
were greatly needed by the English.
CHAPTER VI
General Braddock's Campaign
THE news of Washington's surrender at the Great Meadows
produced a feeling of alarm throughout the Colonies and
also among the members of the King's cabinet. The Treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle, which closed King George's War, was still in
force. Officially, at least. Great Britain and France were at
peace. Yet the British Government realized that France meant
to take and retain possession of the valleys of the Ohio and
Allegheny by force of arms. Great Britain, therefore, began to
make arrangements for sending troops to America to resist the
aggressions of the French. General Edward Braddock was se-
lected as commander-in-chief of these forces.
Braddock sailed for Virginia on December 21st, 1754, with his
stafif and a small part of his troops, leaving the main body to
follow on January 14th, 1755. On February 20th, he arrived in
Virginia. At a council of Governor Shirley of Massachusetts,
Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia, Governor Delancy of New York,
Governor Morris of Pennsylvania, Governor Sharpe of Maryland
and Governor Dobbs of North Carolina, held at Alexandria,
Virginia, on April 14th, 1755, the plans of military operations
were definitely formed. Three expeditions were decided upon:
one against Niagara and Frontenac, under General Shirley; one
against Crown Point, under General William Johnson; and one
against Fort Duquesne, under General Braddock. The expedi-
tion against Fort Duquesne was considered the most important,
and is the only one we shall discuss in this history. It was made
up of the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth Royal Regiments of
Foot, commanded by Sir Peter Halket and Colonel Thomas Dun-
bar, of New York Independent Companies of Foot, and of South
Carolina, Maryland and Virginia troops.
The Army Assembles at Cumberland
Without setting forth the details of the forming of Braddock's
expedition, we state that his army assembled at Will's Creek, or
178 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Fort Cumberland, where the city of Cumberland, Maryland now
stands. Braddock joined his forces here early in May. Here
came Colonel George Washington, who was chosen as one of
Braddock's aides-de-camp. Here, also, Braddock received two
hundred wagons and two hundred and fifty horses from York and
Lancaster Counties, Pennsylvania, principally through the efforts
of Benjamin Franklin, who, in the latter part of April, sent hand-
bills throughout the counties of York, Lancaster and Cumberland,
containing the threat of Quartermaster-General Sir John St.
Clair to send an armed force into these counties to seize wagons
and horses for the expedition.
In this connection we state that Braddock told Franklin he
was sure his army would not be detained long at Fort Duquesne
and that, after capturing that place, he would press on to Niagara
and Frontenac without any obstruction being offered. Franklin
then warned him of the danger of being ambushed by Indian allies
of the French. "He smiled at my ignorance," says Franklin in
his Autobiography, "and replied: 'These savages may indeed be
a formidable enemy to your raw American militia, but upon the
King's regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible that
they should make any impression.' "
Braddock planned to advance on Fort Duquesne over the route
followed by Washington's expedition of the preceeding summer,
which, it will be recalled, was originally the Nemacolin Indian
Trail. In order that his army might procure food and other
supplies from the fertile counties of Eastern Pennsylvania, the
Province of Pennsylvania directed Colonel James Burd to cut a
road from McDowell's Mill, in the western part of Franklin
County, to join the Braddock road at or near Turkey Foot, now
Confluence. Braddock was very anxious that the Burd road be
completed before his army would arrive at the Great Crossings
of the Youghiogheny (Somerfield, Somerset County). He issued
orders later that the work of cutting a road from Raystown
(Bedford, Pa.) to Fort Cumberland be left unfinished until
Colonel Burd would finish cutting the road to Turkey Foot, and
he sent one hundred troops from Fort Cumberland under Captain
Hogg to act as a guard for Burd's road-cutters. However, Colonel
Burd had cut his road only to the crest of the Allegheny Moun-
tains by the time of Braddock's defeat.
Most students of Braddock's expedition are of the opinion that
the starting place for Fort Duquesne should have been Phila-
delphia or Carlisle. Probably the starting place would have been
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 179
in Pennsylvania, if the Pennsylvania Assembly had realized the
impending danger of a successful French invasion and occupation
of the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, and had not spent its
time disputing with Governor Morris. After the Governor had
called the attention of the Assembly to the fact that the French
had invaded a large part of the Province, this body replied, on
January 3d, 1755, that "the French Forts and their other Acquisi-
tions on the Ohio are constantly considered and called in Great
Britain an Invasion upon His Majesty's Territory of Virginia."
Pennsylvania had been requested to enlist men to fill the gaps in
the Forty-fourth and Forty-eighth Regiments. This was not
done. Furthermore, early in January, the Assembly adjourned
until May, without doing anything to put the Province in a state
of defense. Governor Morris then told the Assembly that "all the
fatal Consequences that may attend your leaving the Province
in this defenseless State must lie at your Doors." (Pa. Col. Rec,
Vol. 6, pages 227 to 247, especially pages 233, 234, 240 and 247.)
Without going further into the dispute between the Pennsyl-
vania Assembly and Governor Morris, we state that, on account
of this dispute and consequent inaction on the part of Pennsyl-
vania, the British Government realized that any movement of
troops against Fort Duquesne would have to be made from Vir-
ginia and by Virginia's assistance.
Braddock's Indian Allies
Braddock expected to receive many Indian allies, especially
Catawbas and Cherokees of the South, which Governor Din-
widdle had promised. None of these southern warriors came. He
urged George Croghan, Cristopher Gist and Governor Morris, of
Pennsylvania, to persuade Indians of the Ohio and Allegheny to
join his forces. But the Delawares and Shawnees of these valleys,
alienated from the English interest by the fraudulent Walking
Purchase of 1737, the land sales at the Treaty of 1736, and es-
pecially by the Albany Purchase of 1754, were in no frame of mind
to take up arms against the sympathizing French. At best, they
were waiting to see which side would win in the impending con-
test. Finally, in the latter part of May, George Croghan and
Andrew Montour brought from Aughwick (Shirleysburg, Pa.) to
Braddock's camp at Cumberland about fifty warriors, mostly of
the Six Nations. Many of these Indians had been in Washing-
ton's campaign of the preceeding summer, had deserted him be-
180 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
fore the battle at Fort Necessity, and then had been fed at the
expense of Pennsylvania, by Croghan, at Aughwick, throughout
the autumn and winter.
Scarouady, successor to Tanacharison, was the leader of the
Indians brought by Croghan and Montour. Other chiefs were
White Thunder (The Belt), Silver Heels (Aroas), so called, pro-
ably, on account of being fleet of foot, Canachquasy (Captain
New Castle) and Carondowanen (Great Tree). Scarouady ad-
dressed the assembled Indians, and urged them to take up the
English cause with vigor.
Washington Irving's "Life of Washington" contains the follow-
ing interesting paragraphs concerning the assembling of Sca-
rouady and his warriors at Cumberland.
"Notwithstanding his secret contempt for the Indians, Brad-
dock, agreeably to his instructions, treated them with great cere-
mony. A grand council was held in his tent, at Fort Cumberland,
where all his officers attended. The chiefs, and all the warriors,
came painted and decorated for war. They were received with
military honors, the guards resting on their firearms. The general
made tham a speech through his interpreter, expressing the grief
of their father, the great King of England, at the death of the
Half King, Tanacharison, and made them presents to console
them. They in return promised their aid as guides and scouts, and
declared eternal enmity to the French, following the declaration
with the war song, 'making a terrible noise.'
"The general, to regale and astonish them, ordered all the
artillery to be fired, 'the drums and fifes playing and beating the
point of war;' the fete ended by their feasting in their own camp
on a bullock which the general had given them, following up their
repast by dancing the war dance round a fire, to the sound of their
uncouth drums and rattles, 'making night hideous,' by howls and
yellings.
"For a time all went well. The Indians had their separate
camp, where they passed half the night singing, dancing, and
howling. The British were amused by their strange ceremonies,
their savage antics, and savage decorations. The Indians, on the
other hand, loitered by day about the English camp, fiercely
painted and arrayed, gazing with silent admiration at the parade
of the troops, their marchings and evolutions; and delighted with
the horse-races, with which the young officers recreated them-
selves.
"Unluckily the warriors had brought their families with them
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 181
to Will's Creek, and the women were even fonder than the men of
loitering about the British camp. They were not destitute of
attractions; for the young squaws resemble the gypsies, having
seductive forms, small hands and feet, and soft voices. Among
those who visited the camp was one who no doubt passed for an
Indian princess. She was the daughter of the sachem. White
Thunder, and bore the dazzling name of Bright Lightning. The
charms of these wild-wood beauties were soon acknowledged.
'The squaws,' writes Secretary Peters, 'bring in money plenty;
the officers are scandalously fond of them.'
"The jealousy of the warriors was aroused; some of them be-
came furious. To prevent discord, the squaws were forbidden to
come into the British camp. This did not prevent their being
sought elsewhere. It was ultimately found necessary, for the sake
of quiet, to send Bright Lightning, with all the other women and
children, back to Aughwick. White Thunder, and several of the
warriors, accompanied them for their protection.
"As to the Delaware chiefs, they returned to the Ohio, promis-
ing the general they would collect their warriors together, and
meet him on his march. They never kept their word. 'These
people are villians, and always side with the strongest,' says a
shrewd journalist of the expedition,
"Either from disgust thus caused, or from being actually dis-
missed, the warriors began to disappear from the camp. It is
said that Colonel Innes, who was to remain in command at Fort
Cumberland, advised the dismissal of all but a few to serve as
guides; certain it is, before Braddock recommended his march,
none remained to accompany him but Scarouady and eight of his
warriors."
Neither White Thunder nor any of the other Indians who con-
ducted the Indian women back to Aughwick returned to Brad-
dock's army. The faithful eight Iroquois chiefs who remained
with the army and fought in the battle on the banks of the Monon-
gahela, were thanked by Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, at a
meeting of the Provincial Council, held on August 15th, 1755,
in whose minutes their names are given. They were at the meet-
ing. (See Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 524).
"Captain Jack"
At this point attention is called to the fact that many historians
have made the statement that, when Braddock arrived at the
182 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Little Meadows, soon to be mentioned again, "Captain Jack, the
Wild Hunter of the Juniata," offered him the services of himself
and his band of backwoodsmen, which offer was distainfully
refused. But "Captain Jack, the Wild Hunter," was a mythical
character. He never existed, except as the beau ideal of the
period. Many legends concerning this mythical frontiersman,
"with the eye of an eagle and an aim that was unerring, are given
in McKnights "Captain Jack, the Scout."
Many have confused the mythical "Captain Jack" with the
real Captain Patrick Jack, of the Cumberland Valley, who, it is
claimed, at the suggestion of Benjamin Franklin, offered Brad-
dock the services of his band of foresters as guides, which offer
the General declined to accept, giving as a reason that he already
had secured guides for his expedition. At least this is the tradi-
tion that has been handed down to the descendants of Captain
Patrick Jack. Many, too, have confused the mythical character
with Andrew Montour, the Half Indian; others with the White
Mingo ; and others with Captain William Patterson, of the Juniata
Valley. (See Frontier Forts of Penna., Sec. Edition, Vol. 2, page
643; also Hanna's "Wilderness Trail," Vol. 2, page 57).
The March from Cumberland to the Fatal Field
On June 7th, Sir Peter Halket's division took up the march
from Cumberland, followed, on June 8th, by Lieutenant-Colonel
Burton's division, and, on June 10th, by Colonel Thomas Dun-
bar's division, accompanied by Braddock and his aides. Colonel
Innes was left in command of Fort Cumberland, with a detach-
ment of Colonial troops.
On June 16th, the army reached the Little Meadows, about
three miles east of Grantsville, Maryland. Here Braddock
decided to divide his army. On the 18th of June, four hun-
dred men were sent forward to cut the road to the Little Cross-
ing, (Grantsville) and, on the following day, Braddock followed
with a detachment of five hundred men, the officers, and the
"two eldest Grenadier Companies," making, in all, somewhat
more than twelve hundred officers and men. The rest of the army
about eight hundred and fifty men and officers, under command,
of Colonel Dunbar, was to follow by slower stages, with the heavy
baggage, heavy artillery and stores and with most of the women
accompanying the army. 1 1 was Washington who advised hasten-
ing forward with the best troops and as little baggage as possible.
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 183
For several days he had been very ill of fever. On account of
this illness, he was left, on June 19th, at the camp at the Little
Crossing, under the care of Dr. Craik, by the positive orders of
Braddock. He traveled with Dunbar's division, until July 3d,
then hastened forward from a point near the Great Meadows,
weak as he was, and joined the main army under Braddock the
day before the battle.
Leaving Colonel Dunbar, we shall follow General Braddock's
army on its march through the wilderness and over the mountains
to the fatal field. On June 19th, his army reached Bear Camp,
which was almost on the Maryland and Pennsylvania line, about
three miles southeast of Addison, Somerset County. During this
day's march, Scarouady and his son, who were marching with the
other Indian allies as an advanced party and were some distance
from the line of march, were surrounded and captured by some
French and Indians. The son escaped and brought the intelli-
gence to the warriors, who hastened to rescue or avenge the aged
chief, but found him tied to a tree. The French had been disposed
to kill him; but the Indians with them declared that they would
abandon the French should they do so, thus showing some tie of
friendship or kindred with Scarouady, who then rejoined Brad-
dock's forces unharmed.
By the 23rd of June, the army reached Squaw Fort, situated a
short distance southeast of Somerfield, Somerset County. On
June 24th, it passed over the Great Crossing of the Youghiogheny
and encamped three or four miles east of the Great Meadows, the
site of Fort Necessity, where Washington surrendered the year
before. On June 25th, it marched over the very spot where
Braddock was buried a fortnight later, and encamped at the
Orchard Camp, where he died on the night of July 13th. Both the
Orchard Camp and the place of Braddock's burial are not far
from the Summit on the National Pike, in Fayette County. On
the morning of this day (June 25th), three men, venturing be-
yond the sentinels, were shot and scalped by Indians. On June
26th, the army encamped at Rock Fort Camp, not far from Wash-
ington's Spring, where, it will be remembered, Tanacharison was
encamped with his warriors when he and Washington set out to
make the attack on Jumonville. On June 27th, the army reached
Gist's Plantation, the present Mount Braddock, in Fayette
County. On June 28th, the army reached Stewart's Crossing on
the Youghiogheny, at Connellsville, Fayette County, where it
encamped on the western side of this stream. The army remained
184 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
in camp all day during the 29th, and crossed to the eastern side of
the Youghiogheny, on the 30th, encamping about a mile from the
river.
At this point, attention is called to the fact that, from Gist's
Plantation to Stewart's Crossing, Braddock's army followed the
course of the Catawba Indian Trail, leading from the domain of
the Senecas and other members of the Iroquois Confederation to
the territory of the Catawbas and Cherokees; also to the fact
that, at his camp on the eastern side of the Youghiogheny, on
June 30th, General Braddock wrote what was very likely the last
letter, official or otherwise, penned by his hand. This was a letter
to Governor Morris, urging that Colonel Burd's road be speedily
completed and advising of attacks upon some settlers near Fort
Cumberland by hostile Indians. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages
475-476).
On July 1st, the army encamped at what is known as the Camp
at the Great Swamp, the location of which was near the old Iron
Bridge, southeast of Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, and
near the headwaters of Jacob's and Mount's creeks. On July
2nd, the army encamped at Jacob's Cabin, making a march of
about six miles. This "cabin" belonged to the famous Delaware
chief. Captain Jacobs. On July 3rd, the army passed near Mount
Pleasant, and encamped at the headwaters of Sewickley Creek,
about five miles southeast of Madison, Westmoreland County.
The camp at this place was called Salt Lick Camp. On July 4th,
the army encamped at Thicketty-Run (Sewickley Creek), about
a mile west of Madison. From this camp two Indians were sent
forward as scouts, as was also Christopher Gist. All three re-
turned on the 6th, the Indians bringing the scalp of a French
officer they had killed near Fort Duquesne. Mr. Gist had in-
tended to spy around the fort at night, but was discovered and
pursued by two Indians. He narrowly escaped with his life. On
July 6th, the army reached Camp Monacatoocha, so named in
honor of Scarouady, or Monacatoocha, on account of the follow-
ing sad event:
On the 6th of July, three or four soldiers, loitering in the rear
of Braddock's forces, were killed and scalped by the Indian allies
of the French, and several of the grenadiers set off to take revenge.
These came upon a party of the Indians who held up boughs and
grounded their arms as the sign of amity. Either Braddock's
grenadiers did not perceive this sign, or else misunderstood it.
At any rate, they fired upon the Indians and one of them fell, who
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 185
proved to be the son of Scarouady. The grenadiers brought the
body of the young warrior to camp. Braddock then sent for
Scarouady and the other Indians, and condoled with them on the
lamentable occurrence, making them the customary presents to
wipe away their tears. He also caused the young man to be buried
with the honors of war, and at his request the officers attended the
funeral and fired a volley over the grave. The camp that night,
located about two miles southeast of Irwin, Westmoreland County
was given the name of Camp Monacatoocha, in honor of Sca-
rouady. Says Irving:
"These soldier-like tributes of respect to the deceased and
sympathy with the survivors, soothed the feelings and gratified
the pride of the father, and attached him more firmly to the
service. We are glad to record an anecdote so contrary to the
general contempt for the Indians with which Braddock stands
charged. It speaks well for the real kindness of his heart."
On July 7th, Braddock on advice of Gist and Montour, aban-
doned the Indian trail, in order to avoid the dangerous Narrows
of Turtle Creek; and turning sharply westward, the army followed
the valley of Long Run at or near Stewartsville, and encamped
on the night of July 8th, about two miles from the Monongahela
and an equal distance from the mouth of the Youghiogheny, near
McKeesport, Allegheny County. This was the last camp of the
army before the fatal encounter. Here George Washington, who
had been left at the Little Crossing near Grantsville, Maryland,
on June 19th, on account of illness, rejoined the army on the
evening of July 8th, bringing with him from Dunbar's division a
detachment, sent to guard a pack-horse train carrying provisions
for Braddock's army. It is seen, therefore, that Washington had
not been with Braddock's army during the long march from the
Little Crossing, near Grantsville, Maryland.
After the arrival of Washington's detachment, Braddock's
forces numbered 1,460 officers and men besides women and
camp followers. July 9th dawned bright and clear. Braddock
would reach Fort Duquesne before evening. He felt certain of
victory. Although French and Indians had lurked in the woods,
near his line of march, from the time his army left Cumberland,
yet there had been no ambush.of his forces, owing to the vigilance
of Christopher Gist, Andrew Montour, Scarouady and other
scouts. As has been seen, his Indian scouts had approached near
the fort. They and Gist reported, on July 6th, that there were
186 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
no signs of ambush and no signs of preparations for resistance.
Nor, in fact, was Braddock ambushed on the fatal ninth day of
July, when his army went down to overwhelming and inglorious
defeat at the hands of the French and their Indian allies. It is
true that the French officer, Beaujeu, had planned an ambush,
and picked a place for it on the evening of July 8th. In the mean-
time, Braddock had crossed the Monongahela and started up the
slopes of the field of encounter before the French and Indians ar-
rived at the place which they had selected for ambushing him.
We think it well to point out this fact before we describe the battle
(See the French account of the battle, in Pa. Archives, Sec. Series,
Vol. 6, page 256).
But to return to the early morning of the fatal day. To reach
Fort Duquesne, it was necessary for Braddock's army to cross to
the south side of the Monongahela, march some distance along
the south bank, then return to the north bank by again fording
the stream.
At three o'clock on the morning of July 9th, Colonel Gage was
sent with about four hundred men to secure both fords of the
river and to hold the northern bank of the second ford. At four
o'clock. Sir John St. Clair, with a detachment of two hundred and
fifty men, was sent to make a road for transporting the artillery
and baggage. At eight o'clock, Braddock crossed the first ford
to the south bank of the Monongahela, Here his forces took up
the line of march along the south shore, and, when they had gone
about a mile, Braddock received word from Colonel Gage that he
had carried out the General's orders and posted himself on the
north bank to secure the second ford. Presently the entire army
crossed the second ford, and formed along the north shore, just
below the mouth of Turtle Creek, where the town of Braddock
now stands.
The march along the south shore of the Monongahela was an
imposing spectacle — with arms cleaned the night before, gleaming
in the summer sunshine, with officers and men, clad in their best
uniforms, stepping buoyantly to the inspiring music of the
"Grenadiers' March," which the drums and fifes were beating and
playing, with the flag of England flying in the breeze, Washing-
ton looked upon the scene with deep emotion, and, in after years,
spoke of it as the most beautiful sight he ever beheld. The ford-
ing to the north shore was made with bayonets fixed, drums beat-
ing, fifes playing and colors flying, as before.
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 187
The Battle of the Monongahela
The army is now on the north shore of the Monongahela.
Fort Duquesne is only ten miles away. It is almost two o'clock.
After a halt, General Braddock has arranged the order of march.
First moves the advance, under Colonel Gage, preceeded by the
engineers and six light horsemen. These are followed by Sir
John St. Clair and the working party, with wagons and two
cannon, four flanking parties being thrown out on each side.
General Braddock is soon to follow with the main body, the
artillery and baggage, preceeded and flanked by light horse and
infantry; while the Virginia and other Colonial troops are to
form the rear guard.
The advanced party, under Gage, has proceeded beyond the
first high ground and is just going up the second when one of the
engineers, marking the course of the road, sees French and In-
dians directly in front of him. He gives the alarm, "French and
Indians"! Beaujeu, their leader, is wearing a gay hunting shirt
and silver gorget on his breast, as he leads them on. They are on
the run, indicating that they have just come from Fort Duquesne.
Both sides are equally surprised. Both sides fire upon each other.
Beaujeu is killed at the first fire. Upon his fall, the Indians begin
to waver, terrified at the roar of St. Clair's cannon. The com-
mand of the French and Indians now devolves upon M. Dumas.
With great presence of mind, he rallies the Indians and orders his
officers to lead them to the wings and attack the British on the
flank, while he, with the French soldiers, will maintain a position
in front. His orders are promptly obeyed.
General Braddock hears the quick and heavy firing in front
and the terrible yelling of the Indians. He orders Colonel Burton
to hasten to the assistance of the advanced party, with the van
guard, eight hundred strong. The rest of the army, four hundred
strong, are halted and posted to protect the artillery and baggage.
The General sends an aid-de-camp forward to bring him an ac-
count of the attack. He does not wait for the aid-de-camp's re-
turn, but, finding the turmoil and uproar increasing, he and
Washington move forward, leaving Sir Peter Halket in charge of
the baggage.
In the meantime Gage has ordered his men to fix bayonets and
form in order of battle. They do so in terror, and he now orders
them to scale the hill on the right from which there is the heaviest
188 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
firing, but they will not quit the line of march, dismayed by the
terrible yells of the Indians, who have now extended themselves
along the hill and in the ravines which traverse the field.
The whereabouts of the Indians are known only by their blood-
curdling cries and the puffs of smoke from their rifles. The sol-
diers fire when they see the smoke. The offtcers' orders are not
heeded. The men shoot at random, killing some of their own
flanking parties and of the van guard. In a few minutes most of
the officers and men of the advance are killed or wounded. Gage
himself is wounded. His detachment falls back upon the detach-
ment which followed.
Braddock has now arrived, and is trying to rally the men, but
they heed neither his entreaties nor his threats. They will not
fight when they can not see the enemy. The Virginia troops, how-
ever, accustomed to the Indian mode of fighting, spring into the
forest, take post behind trees and rocks, and, in this manner, pick
off some of the lurking foe. Washington urges Braddock to adopt
the same plan with the regulars, but he persists in forming them
into platoons. Consequently they are cut down without mercy.
Some, indeed, attempt to take to trees, but the General storms
at them and calls them cowards. He even strikes them with the
flat of his sword. In the meantime, the regulars kill many of the
Virginians, firing as they see the puffs of smoke from their rifles
in the forest.
The slaughter of the officers is terrible. The Indians fire from
their coverts at every one on horseback, or who appears to have
command. Colonel Burton, and Sir John St. Clair are wounded.
Sir Peter Halket is shot down at the head of his regiment. Secre-
tary Shirley is shot through the head, falling by the side of Brad-
dock, who still remains in the center of the field in the hope of
retrieving the fortunes of the day. He has seen his trusted officers
shot down all around him. Two of his aides. Captain Robert
Orme and Captain Roger Morris, are wounded. Four horses have
now been shot and killed under Braddock; still he keeps his
ground. At length, as he mounts a fifth horse, a bullet passes
through his right arm and lodges itself in his lungs. He falls
from his horse into the arms of Captain Robert Stewart, of the
Virginia Light Horse. The mortally wounded General asks to be
left amid the dead and dying on the scene of slaughter, but
Captain Stewart and another Virginian officer assisted by Brad-
dock's servant. Bishop, later carry him from the field in his military
scarf.
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 189
Amid the carnage, with the war-whoop of the Indians ringing
in his ears, with the groans of the dying bringing unutterable
sadness to his soul, Washington distinguishes himself by his
courage and presence of mind. His brother aides, Orme and
Morris, having been wounded early in the action, the whole duty
of carrying the orders of the General has devolved on him. He
dashes to every part of the field, and is a conspicuous mark for
the rifles of the Indians. A chief and his warriors single him out,
and, after firing at him many times, the chief orders the warriors
to desist, believing the life of the brave young Virginian is pro-
tected by the Great Spirit. (When Washington, in 1770, in
company with Dr. Craik and William Crawford, made a journey
down the Ohio River to explore lands given the Virginia soldiers,
the Indian chief who fired at him so often in this battle, made a
long journey to meet him.) The men who should have served
Sir Peter Halket's cannon are paralyzed with terror. Washington
springs from his horse, wheels and points a brass field-piece with
his own hands, and directs an effective discharge into the woods.
Two horses are shot under him. Four bullets pass through his
coat. Dr. James Craik, as he attends the wounded, watches him
with great anxiety, as he dashes from place to place in the most
exposed manner. Yet Washington miraculously escapes without
a wound.
The battle lasted until five o'clock. Just before Braddock was
shot, the drums beat a retreat, but, by this time, most of the
survivors, abandoning their arms, had crossed the Monongahela
in headlong flight, at the same ford across which they had come,
in proud array, to the field of death a few hours before. Neither
the French nor the Indians pursued the fugitives. The Indians
remained on the field to scalp and plunder the dead. This saved
the life of many a fugitive. Had the French and Indians followed
the broken fragments of the army, it is likely that none would
have escaped. Later many of the Indians returned home, being
dissatisfied with their share of the spoils.
This was the most crushing defeat ever administered to a
British army on American soil. Throughout that dreadful after-
noon, death, like a hungry Moloch, eager for a royal feast,
stalked by the side of Mars and drank his fill of blood amid the
gloom of the forest. The slaughter of trained soldiers by Indians,
in this battle, has no comparison except the slaughter of General
George A. Custer's troops at the battle of the Little Big Horn, on
June 25th, 1876.
190 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Of the 1460, besides women and other camp followers, who on
that July day crossed the sparkling Monongahela, 456 were
killed and 421 wounded, many of them mortally. Out of 89
commissioned ofificers, 63 were killed or wounded. In no other
battle in history were so many officers slain in proportion to the
number engaged. The Virginians suffered the most. One com-
pany was almost annihilated, and another, besides those killed
and wounded in its ranks, lost all its officers, even to the corporal.
Of the three Virginia companies, Washington said that they "be-
haved like men and died like soldiers" and that "scarce thirty
men were left alive."
The French Account of the Battle
The French account of the battle, among other things, bears
out the contention that Braddock was not ambushed. In this
account, we read:
"That officer (Contrecoeur, commander of Fort Duquesne) em-
ployed the next day (July 8th) in making his arrangements; and
on the ninth detached M. de Beaujeu, seconded by Messers.
Dumas and de Lignery, all three Captains, together with four
Lieutenants, 6 Ensigns, 20 cadets, 100 soldiers, 100 Canadians
and 600 Indians, with orders to lie in ambush at a favorable spot,
which had been reconnoitered the previous evening. The detach-
ment, before it could reach its place of destination, found itself
in the presence of the enemy within three leagues of that fort. M.
de Beaujeu, finding his ambush had failed, decided upon an attack.
This he made with so much vigor as to astonish the enemy, who
were waiting for us in the best possible order; but their artillery,
loaded with grape (a cartouche) having opened fire, our men gave
way in turn. The Indians, also frightened by the report of the
cannon rather than by any damage it could inflict, began to
yield, when M. de Beaujeu was killed. M. Dumas began to en-
courage his detachment."
(See Pa. Archives, Sec. Series, Vol. 6, page 256.)
The French account, just quoted, goes on to state that "the
enemy left more than 1,000 men on the field of battle;" while,
in the "Memoirs des Pouchot," Vol. 1, page 37, the following is
stated :
"There were counted dead on the battle field six hundred men,
on the retreat about four hundred; along a little stream three
hundred. Their total loss was reckoned at twelve hundred and
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 191
seventy . . . The wounded were abandoned, and almost all
perished in the woods."
The official reports of the French show that Contrecoeur,
frightened by the exaggerated statements given him as to the
number of Braddock's forces, had prepared to surrender Fort
Duquesne when the British army should arrive at that place.
Reluctantly did he give assent to any resistance; and when his
officers selected a place of ambush on the evening of June 8th,
it was merely to dispute the passes of the Monongahela and to
annoy and retard the march of Braddock's army.
In this connection we state that there were few, if any, Dela-
wares and Shawnees among the Indian allies of the French at Brad-
dock's defeat. These tribes did not go over to the French to the ex-
tent of taking up arms against the English until after Braddock's
defeat. They were simply waiting to see which side would win.
The Indians with the French at this battle were the Tisagech-
roann, Chippewas, Ottawas and other tribes from the region of
the Great Lakes. Contrary to the statements of many historians,
it may well be doubted that Pontiac commanded the Ottawas at
this battle. (See W. N. Loudermilk's "History of Cumberland,"
page 177.) It has also been stated that the Seneca chief, Corn-
planter, fought on the side of the French in this battle. This, too,
may well be doubted.
The Retreat— Death of Braddock
At the time of the battle. Colonel Dunbar, who followed, as
has been seen, with the heavy artillery and heavy stores, was in
camp at a place since known as "Dunbar's Camp," and located
not far from the spot where Jumonville was killed in Washington's
campaign of 1754. This place is almost fifty miles from the place
of Braddock's defeat. Dunbar has been greatly criticised on
account of the slowness with which he followed Braddock; but
it should be remembered that he had the poorest troops, many
of whom sickened and died on the way; that he had the heaviest
stores, and an insufficient number of horses to transport them;
and that he was almost constantly harrassed by French and In-
dians, as his poor, jaded horses dragged the heavily laden wagons
up the mountain sides in the summer heat. Moreover, the In-
dians got in his rear and cut oflf much of his supplies.
When General Braddock was carried from the field, he was
taken to the other side of the Monongahela, where about one
192 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
hundred men had gathered, among them being Washington, the
aides, Orme and Morris, and Dr. Craik, who here dressed the
General's wound. This place was about a quarter of a mile from
the ford. From here Braddock ordered Washington to go to
Dunbar's camp with orders to send wagons for the wounded,
hospital stores, provisions and other supplies, escorted by two
Grenadier companies. Colonel Burton posted sentries here and
intended to hold the place until he could be reinforced. But
most of the men took to flight within an hour, and then Burton
retreated up and across the stream to the camp ground from which
the army had marched on the morning of that fatal day. Here
Burton and his companions were joined by Colonel Gage and
eighty men whom he had rallied. From this place. Burton and
Gage, uniting their detachments and carrying the wounded
General with them, marched all that night and the next day, and
arrived at Gist's Plantation at ten o'clock at night. Around the
Indian spring at Gist's, on that warm, summer night, the dying
General and the other wounded lay sleepless and hungry, waiting
for surgical aid and food from the camp of Dunbar.
Now, to return to Washington. After receiving the General's
orders to hasten to Dunbar's camp, he with two companions,
rode all through the melancholy, dark and rainy night, and ar-
rived at the camp in the evening of July 10th. But the tidings
of Braddock's defeat had preceded Washington. These were
borne by wagoners, who had mounted their horses when the day
was lost, and fled from the field of battle. Haggard and terrified,
the Indian yell ringing in their ears, these wagoners had ridden
into Dunbar's camp at noon, on July 10th, exclaiming, "All is
lost! Braddock is killed! The troops are cut to pieces!" A
panic then fell upon the camp, which Washington found still
prevailing upon his arrival. The orders which he brought with
him were executed during the night. Early the next morning
(July 11th), he accompanied the convoy of supplies to Gist's
Plantation, eleven miles away. Here he found General Brad-
dock sufi"ering intense agony of body and mind. In this agony
the dying General's thoughts were on the poor soldiers, who were
wandering in the woods to die from their wounds, from ex-
haustion, from starvation, or at the hands of the Indians.
The wounded were attended to at Gist's on the 1 1th. Then the
survivors retreated to Dunbar's camp. Here confusion still
reigned. Orme says in his journal that Dunbar's forces "seemed
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 193
to have forgot all discipline." Dunbar's wagoners were nearly all
Pennsylvanians, and, like those who were with Braddock, had
fled, taking the best horses with them.
All the wagons being needed to carry the wounded, most of
Dunbar's ammunition and other military stores were destroyed
and buried to prevent their falling into the hands of the French.
General Braddock died at the Orchard Camp, west of the
Great Meadows, during the night of July 13th, and was buried in
the middle of the road, the troops, horses and wagons passing
over the grave to obliterate its traces and thus prevent its dese-
cration by the Indians. Some historians say that the time of the
burial was before daylight and that Washington read the burial
service amid the flickering light of torches, after the manner of
the burial of Sir John Moore. However, Veech, in his "Monon-
gahela of Old," says the burial took place after daylight, on the
morning of the 14th.
After the burial of Braddock, the wreck of his former proud
array continued its retreat without molestation. Had the French
known the fear and panic that seized Dunbar's soldiers and that
no reinforcements were coming, they would no doubt have
annihilated the remnants of the British forces.
Hon. William Findley, of Westmoreland County, wrote that
Washington advised him that he intended to erect a monument at
the place where Braddock was buried, but had no opportunity
to do so until after the Revolutionary War; that in 1784, he made
diligent search for the grave, but could not find it. (See Niles'
Register, XIV, page 179.)
Colonel James Burd located the grave in 1759 when on his way
to Redstone, and said that it was "about two miles from Fort
Necessity, and about twenty yards from a little hollow, in which
there was a small stream of water, and over it a bridge." In
1812, some workmen, under the direction of Abraham Stewart,
repairing the road at a point near the place mentioned by Colonel
Burd, unearthed the skeleton and trappings of a British officer.
These were, very probably, General Braddock's bones. Some of
the bones were taken away by relic hunters, but all were later
collected by Mr. Stewart. In 1820, the skeleton was reinterred a
few rods from the original grave. A monument now marks the
spot where these bones repose in the soil of the historic county of
Fayette. Thousands of travelers on the National Pike pause at
"Braddock's Grave" to pay tribute to the memory of the haughty
and unfortunate British General. Peace to his ashes!
194 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Thomas Fossit
Thomas Fossit (Fausset), a soldier in Braddock's army, said by
some to have been enlisted at Shippensburg, maintained to the
end of his long life that he fired the bullet that gave General
Braddock his mortal wound. Fossit claimed that his brother,
Joseph, was killed by Braddock for attempting to seek shelter,
during the battle; whereupon he, in revenge, shot the General.
For a number of years, Fossit conducted a small tavern not far
from Braddock's burial place, where he related his story to the
passing traveler. Some historians, among them Bancroft and
Egle, accept Fossit's story as true; others give it little or no
credence. Perhaps the fairest comment to make is to say that
the truth of the old soldier's statement can be neither proved nor
disproved.
Torture of the Prisoners
James (later Colonel) Smith, a young man eighteen years of
age, was one of the force of three hundred men, under Colonel
James Burd, engaged in cutting the Pennsylvania road from Mc-
Dowell's Mill to Turkey Foot as Braddock was marching on Fort
Duquesne. At a point four or five miles above Bedford, he was
captured, about July 5th, by Indian allies of the French and
carried to Fort Duquesne, where he was a prisoner on the day of
Braddock's defeat. He gives the following description of the
happenings at the fort on that dreadful day:
"Shortly after this, on the 9th day of July, 1755, in the morn-
ing, I heard a great stir in the fort. As I could then walk with a
staff in my hand, I went out of the door, which was just by the
wall of the fort, and stood upon the wall and viewed the Indians
in a huddle before the gate, where were barrels of powder, bullets,
flints, &c., and every one taking what suited; I saw the Indians
also march off in rank entire — likewise the French Canadians, and
some regulars. After viewing the Indians and French in different
positions, I computed them to be about four hundred, and won-
dered that they attempted to go out against Braddock with so
small a party. I was then in high hopes that I would soon see
them fly before the British troops, and that General Braddock
would take the fort and rescue me.
"I remained anxious to know the advent of this day; and, in
the afternoon, I again observed a great noise and commotion in
the fort, and though at that time I could not understand French,
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 195
yet I found that it was the voice of joy and triumph, and feared
that they had received what I called bad news.
"I had observed some of the old country soldiers speak Dutch
[German]; as I spoke Dutch, I went to one of them, and asked
him, what was the news? He told me that a runner had just
arrived, who said that Braddock would certainly be defeated;
that the Indians and French had surrounded him, and were con-
cealed behind trees and in gullies, and kept a constant fire upon
the English, and that they saw the English falling in heaps, and if
they did not take the river, which was the only gap, and make
their escape, there would not be one man left alive before sun-
down. Some time after this, I heard a number of scalp halloos,
and saw a company of Indians and French coming in. I observed
they had a great many bloody scalps, grenadiers' caps, British
canteens, bayonets, &c., with them. They brought the news that
Braddock was defeated. After that, another company came in
which appeared to be about one hundred, and chiefly Indians,
and it seemed to me that almost every one of this company was
carrying scalps; after this, came another company with a number
of wagon horses, and also a great many scalps. Those that were
coming in, and those that had arrived, kept a constant firing of
small arms, and also the great guns in the fort, which were ac-
companied with the most hideous shouts and yells from all
quarters; so that it appeared to me as if the infernal regions had
broke loose.
"About sundown I beheld a small party coming in with about
a dozen prisoners, stripped naked, with their hands tied behind
their backs, and part of their bodies blackened, — these prisoners
they burned to death on the bank of the Allegheny River opposite
the fort. I stood on the fort wall until I beheld them begin to
burn one of these men; they had him tied to a stake, and kept
touching him with fire-brands, red-hot irons, &c., and he scream-
ing in the most doleful manner, — the Indians in the meantime
yelling like infernal spirits. As this scene appeared too shocking
for me to behold, I retired to my lodgings both sore and sorry."
This is the first torture of white prisoners by Indians that we
have seen thus far in this volume. We shall see many others be-
fore the end of the book. In this connection we state that Hon.
Warren K. Moorehead, of the United States Board of Indian
Commissioners, who has made the American Indians a life study,
believes that they learned their cruel treatment of prisoners from
the early Spanish explorers. However this may be, certainly the
196 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Indians never exceeded the Spanish explorers in cruelty. And
the eternal pages of history will say that the American Indians
never inflicted more horrible tortures on prisoners, white or red,
than civilized white men — Christians, both Catholic and Protes-
tant— inflicted on one another, in religious persecutions only a
few centuries ago. It is well to keep this great fact of history in
mind as we read the accounts of Indian tortures.
But to quote a little more from James Smith's account:
"When I came into my lodgings, I saw Russel's Seven Ser-
mons, which they had brought from the field of battle, which a
Frenchman made a present of to me. From the best information
I could receive, there were only seven Indians and four French
killed in this battle, and five hundred British lay dead on the
field, besides what were killed in the river on their retreat. The
morning after the battle, I saw Braddock's artillery brought into
the fort; the same day I also saw several Indians in British
officers' dress, with sash, half moons, laced hats, &c., which the
British then wore."
Smith was a native of Franklin County, Pennsylvania. He
remained in captivity among the Indians at Fort Duquesne, Ma-
honing, and Muskingum. He was adopted by his captors. Dur-
ing his captivity among the Indians, he was carried from place to
place, spending most of his time at Mahoning and Muskingum.
In about 1759, he accompanied his Indian relatives to Montreal,
where he managed to secrete himself on board a French ship. He
was again taken prisoner and confined for four months, but was
finally exchanged and reached his home in 1760, to find the sweet-
heart of his boyhood married, and all his friends and relatives
supposing him dead. He became a very prominent man on the
Pennsylvania frontier, and during the Revolution, was a captain
on the Pennsylvania line, being promoted, in 1778, to the rank of
colonel. In 1788, he removed to Kentucky, where he at once
took a prominent part in public affairs, serving in the early Ken-
tucky conventions and in the legislature. He died in Washington
County, Kentucky, in 1812, leaving behind him as a legacy to
historians a very valuable account of his Indian captivity.
A Final View of the Field
Let us take a final view of the field of blood and death by the
limpid waters of the Monongahela. Hundreds of scalped and
mutilated bodies lie amid the ferns, the laurel, the clinging vines,
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 197
and by the mossy logs of these sylvan shades. They He on the
bank of the river; they He on the sides of the ravines; they He by
the rivulets. The ferns, the laurel, the vines, the moss are stained
with blood. The rivulets run red with blood. Far from the scene
of battle, bodies lie — bodies of the wounded who dragged them-
selves deeper into the forest to die, or perished on the flight from
the scene of slaughter. Soon these bodies will be torn asunder by
wild beasts. Soon wolves and bears will devour their flesh and
crunch their bones. Later the voice of lamentation will be heard
in hundreds of homes, far away from the banks of the Monon-
gahela — agonizing cries of fathers, of mothers, of sisters, of
brothers, of wives, of sweethearts of the fallen. For long, sad
years, the mystic cords of memory and affection, stretching from
hundreds of homes in Virginia, in Maryland, and across the sea,
will bind these homes to this Monongahela battle ground — bind
them until these relatives, wives and sweethearts meet the loved
and lost in the land where there are no wars, no partings and no
death.
General Forbes captured Fort Duquesne, on November 25th,
1 758. Three days later he sent a detachment to bury the bones of
the soldiers slain at Braddock's defeat. Among those who went
to the scene of the battle was the then Sir Peter Halket, son of
the Sir Peter Halket who was killed at the battle, as was also one
of his sons. Young Sir Peter Halket had accompanied the High-
landers to America in the hope of finding the bones of his father
and brother. By interrogating some Indians who had fought
against Braddock young Sir Peter Halket found one who stated
that at the massacre he had seen an officer fall near a tree, that a
young subaltern ran to his assistance, was shot when he reached
the spot, and fell across the other's body. On hearing the Indian's
story, Halket had a mournful conviction that the two officers were
his father and brother.
Captain West, a brother of the famous painter, Benjamin West,
piloted by Indians who had been in the battle, led the detachment
which buried the bones of Braddock's soldiers. In Gait's "Life
of Benjamin West," we learn that the Indian who told young
Sir Peter Halket the incident just related, accompanied the latter
and companions to the scene of the battle. They found the
ground covered with skeletons. Some were lying across trunks
of fallen trees. Skulls and bones were scattered on the ground —
a certain indication that the bodies had been torn asunder and
devoured by wild beasts. In a short time, the Indian informant
198 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
uttered a cry, announcing that he had found the tree near which
he had seen the officers fall on the day of battle. Then the
Indian removed the leaves which thickly covered the ground.
Presently two skeletons were found, as the Indian had expected,
lying one across the other. Young Peter Halket then remember-
ing that his father had an artificial tooth, examined the jaw bones
of the skeletons for this mark of identification. In a short time he
exclaimed, "It is my father!" and fell into the arms of his
companions. The two skeletons, covered with a Highland plaid,
were then buried together.
Sargent, one hundred years after Braddock's defeat, published
his "History of Braddock's Expedition." He describes the ap-
pearance of the place of battle as then being a tranquil, rural
landscape of rare charm and beauty, where
''Peaceful smiles the harvest,
And stainless flows the tide.''
Today, one hundred and seventy-four years after the battle,
the town of Braddock has replaced the forest of 1755 and the
rural landscape of 1855. Today the greater part of the battle-
field is covered by the Edgar Thompson Steel Works, where men
face the hot furnaces, instead of the rifle of the Indian— where
men labor amid the clang and roar of machinery, instead of being
shot down with the blood-curdling yells of the Indians ringing in
their ears.
Some of the Survivors
Among the survivors of the Braddock campaign, were men
who lived to take a prominent part in the Revolutionary War.
Colonel Gage who led the advance on the day of battle, was the
General Gage who led the British forces at Bunker Hill. Captain
Horatio Gates, who commanded one of the New York indepen-
dent companies in the Braddock campaign, was the General
Gates to whom Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. Captain
Hugh Mercer Avho was in the battle on the banks of the Monon-
gahela, was the General Mercer who laid down his life for the
American cause at the battle of Princeton. General Daniel
Morgan, whose famous riflemen from Pennsylvania and Virginia
rendered the American cause such great service during the
Revolutionary War, was a teamster in Braddock's army. For
some real or supposed affront, a haughty British officer caused
him to be whipped on the bare back.
Daniel Boone, the famous Kentucky pioneer, was in Brad-
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 199
dock's fatal expedition. (Hanna's Wilderness Trail, Vol. 2, pages
213 and 214.)
Effects of Braddock's Defeat
The news of Braddock's defeat quickly spread throughout the
settlements of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia and later
to the other Colonies, filling the hearts of all, especially the in-
habitants of the frontiers, with dismay. Fear traveled on the
wings of the wind, bringing terror to those who had believed
Braddock's proud army to be invincible but now learned that it
was overwhelmingly defeated.
The terrified Colonel Dunbar, with 1,800 troops, 300 of whom
were sick and wounded, continued his retreat to Fort Cumber-
land, at which place he arrived on July 22nd. About the only
reason he gave for retreating was that that many of his soldiers
had lost their clothes in the battle. It was midsummer. Why he
should attach so much importance to lack of clothes at this time
of year, as a reason for retreating, especially when he had so great
a supply of ammunition and other supplies that he had to destroy
most of the same, is hard to see. Then, on August 2nd, he
marched away to "winter quarters" at Philadelphia, shamefully
leaving Fort Cumberland, the only fort on the frontier, with a
small garrison and four hundred sick and wounded soldiers. On
October 1st, his army, fifteen hundred strong, took up the march
from Philadelphia to New York and Albany. When the news of
Dunbar's cowardly and traitorous action spread throughout the
settlements, the terror in the log cabins on the frontier was
greatly increased.
If, instead of destroying the larger part of his stores and am-
munition and then retreating, Dunbar had rested his troops and
gotten reinforcements from Fort Cumberland, he could no doubt
have captured Fort Duquesne. This is unquestionably what he
should have done. With reinforcements from Fort Cumberland,
he would have had about three times as many troops as had the
French at Fort Duquesne. The French were nearly as badly
frightened as was he. They expected the British army to be
reinforced and then return. Moreover, nearly all of their Indian
allies had returned to their forest homes along the Great Lakes.
Gist, Scarouady, Montour and the other scouts with Dunbar,
could easily have ascertained the situation and number of the
French. Had poor Braddock lived, he would undoubtedly have
done just what we say Dunbar should have done.
200 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
The news of Dunbar's action soon spread among the Delawares
and Shawnees. Hesitating no longer, they went over to the
French and prepared to strike the frontier settlements. The
Delawares threw off the yoke of subserviency to the Six Nations.
In doing this, they declared they were no longer "women" but
MEN with the right to determine their own actions. Soon the
mountains of Pennsylvania were filled with war parties of Dela-
wares and Shawnees, coming from the valleys of the Ohio and
Allegheny. They rushed down the Braddock road into Maryland,
and killed and scalped settlers almost up to the gates of Fort
Cumberland. A little later, they entered the Pennsylvania settle-
ments by way of the various Indian trails, traders' routes and the
road Colonel Burd had cut to the crest of the Allegheny Moun-
tains.
The bitter fruits of the fraudulent Walking Purchase of 1737
and the Albany Purchase of 1754 are about to be gathered. The
Delawares and Shawnees are about to wreak terrible and bloody
vengeance on defenseless Pennsylvania. In our next chapter, we
shall see the beginning of their work of blood and death.
A Final Word as to General Braddock
General Edward Braddock was born in Perthshire, Scotland,
in 1695. He became Lieutenant-Colonel, in 1745, Brigadier-
General, in 1746, and Major-General, in 1754. He fought val-
iantly at Fontenoy and Culloden.
General Braddock's principal shortcomings were that he paid
too little attention to those who warned him of the dangers of
Indian warfare and that he underestimated the worth of the
Colonial troops. We have already called attention to the fact
that he told Benjamin Franklin that it was impossible for the
Indians to make any impression whatever on the British regulars.
But it must be remembered that it was natural for him to have
an exalted opinion of the efficiency of the mode of warfare in
which he had been schooled since his fifteenth year, at which
early age he entered the British army as an Ensign in the Cold-
stream Guards, a very aristocratic division of the army, the body-
guard of British Royalty. He could hardly be expected suddenly
to adopt a radically different mode of warfare in his sixtieth year.
His Secretary, William Shirley, son of Governor Shirley, of
Massachusetts, wrote Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, from
Fort Cumberland, almost a month before the army left that
GENERAL BRADDOCK'S CAMPAIGN 201
place for Fort Duquesne: "We have a general most judiciously
chosen for being disqualified for the service he is employed in, in
almost every respect." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 405.) Wash-
ington, too, criticised him "for want of that temper and modera-
tion which should be used by a man of sense" and for being in-
capable of arguing military questions without inordinate warmth
of feeling. (Washington's letter of June 7th, 1755, to William
Fairfax.) Also, the Indian chief, Scarouady, at a meeting of the
Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, on August 22nd, 1755, com-
plained to Governor Morris concerning Braddock: "It is now well
known to you how unhappily we have been defeated by the
French near Monongahela. We must let you know that it was
the pride and ignorance of that great general that came from
England. He is now dead; but he was a bad man when he was
alive; he looked upon us [the Indians who were with Braddock]
as dogs; would never hear anything that was said to him. We
often endeavored to advise him, and to tell him of the danger he
v/as in with his soldiers; but he never appeared pleased with us,
and that was the reason a great many of our warriors left him,
and would not be under his command." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6,
page 589.)
Bitterly criticised in life, reproach did not spare the unfortunate
Braddock in his grave. In both England and America, the
failure of the expedition was attributed to his obstinacy, pedantry
and conceit. But the mistakes of a man who fails are always
magnified. Furthermore, his bitterest critics and defamers were
compelled to admit his bravery. He was as brave as the bravest
of the brave. Nor was he without kindness of heart. Before he
closed his eyes in death, in that Allegheny Mountain camp, he
acknowledged his mistake in not heeding the advice of Washing-
ton to order the British regulars to fight the Indians in the manner
of the Virginia troops. "We shall know better how to deal with
them another time," he said. It is also said that, in the shadows
of the receding world, he bequeathed Washington his favorite
charger and his body servant, Bishop, an evidence of his affection
for the Virginia youth. And we call attention to the fact that
Washington, in mature years, after his military judgement had
been strengthened and broadened amid the mighty throes of
the American Revolution, said the following of his former
General :
"True, he was unfortunate, but his character was much too
severely treated. He was one of the honestest and best men of
202 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the British officers. Even in the manner of fighting he was not
more to blame than others, for of all that were consulted, only
one person [probably, Washington, himself] objected to it. He
was both my General and my physician."
General Braddock and the soldiers who went down to death
in his campaign against Fort Duquesne, did not die in vain.
From the time of his bloody defeat, the frontiersmen of Virginia,
Maryland and the other American Colonies, had no doubt that
they were the equal of the British regulars. Therefore, they did
not fear to take up arms against them later on, in resisting British
tyranny. It is not too much to say, then, that Braddock's defeat
was the first step in the direction of American independence —
that, in the Providence of God, his defeat was one of the links in
the chain of events that led to American independence — that,
out of that travail of blood and death on the banks of the Monon-
gahela, was born the greatest Nation that ever stepped forth
upon the stage of time.
But—
''No farther seek his merits to disclose,
Or draw his frailties from their dread abode.''
Let us hope that, after the warfare of life, General Braddock
and those who criticised him so severely, have reached a common
consummation. Let us hope that his soul and theirs found the
golden key that unlocked the palace of a peaceful eternity.
CHAPTER VII
The First Delaware Invasion
IT is the autumn of 1755. By this time, nearly all the Dela-
wares and Shawnees have gone over to the French. They are
about to invade the Pennsylvania settlements with rifle, toma-
hawk and scalping knife. The storm which has been gathering
in the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny, is about to pass over the
Allegheny Mountains and deluge the frontiers with indescribable
horror.
But, before taking up the recital of the massacres of the autumn
of 1755, let us again call attention to the defenseless condition of
the Pennsylvania frontier. When Governor Morris of Penn-
sylvania, learned that Colonel Dunbar was bringing his army to
Philadelphia to go into "winter quarters" in midsummer, leaving
the Pennsylvania frontier exposed and unprotected, he was
astounded, and wrote Governor Shirley of Massachusetts to this
effect. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 513.) Shirley was now com-
mander-in-chiefs, after the death of Braddock. Furthermore,
Governor Morris wrote Dunbar, urging him to keep his army on
the frontiers for the protection of the settlers. Colonel James
Burd urged the same in an interview with Dunbar at Cumber-
land. When Governor Shirley received the information that
Dunbar intended to march to Philadelphia, he wrote that there
never was any thing equal to Braddock's defeat "unless the re-
treat of the 1,500 men and the scheme of going into Winter
Quarters when his Majesty's Service stands so much in need of
the troops." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 548.) Then, on August
6th, Governor Shirley ordered Dunbar to proceed to Albany, New
York, with his troops. Six days later, he ordered him, with the
assistance of troops to be raised in Pennsylvania, to attack Fort
Duquesne and Fort Presu' Isle, and, in case of failure in both
these attempts, then to make such a disposition of his troops as
to protect the frontiers of Pennsylvania, especially in the neigh-
borhood of Shippensburg, Carlisle and McDowell's Mill. In these
orders of August 12th, Shirley told him that, should he, "through
204 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
any unforeseen Accident," find it "absolutely impracticable" to
put them into execution, then he was to carry out the orders of
August 6th, and come to Albany. The orders of August 6th were
the orders Dunbar found "practicable." He led his army from
Philadelphia to New York, as was seen in the preceding chapter.
Furthermore, Governor Morris was not able to raise troops in
Pennsylvania, and wrote Governor Shirley, on August 19th, tell-
ing him that "uncommon pains have been taken by the Quakers
to dissuade the people from taking up arms upon the present
occasion," and explaining that a great majority of the Pennsyl-
vania Assembly were Quakers. Such was the state of affairs in
Pennsylvania when the Delawares and Shawnees, in the autumn
of 1755, began their bloody invasion of the frontier settlements.
(See Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 558 to 563.)
On October 9th, George Croghan wrote from Aughwick to
Charles Swaine at Shippensburg that a friendly Indian, coming
from the Ohio, warned him that one hundred and sixty Indians
were ready to set out for the Pennsylvania settlements. (Pa. Col.
Rec, Vol. 6, page 642.) This Indian gave it as his opinion that
these Indians would attack the Province as soon as they could
persuade the Indians on the Susquehanna to join them. Said
Croghan: "He desires me, as soon as I see the Indians remove
from Susquehanna back to Ohio, to shift my quarters, for he says
that the French will, if possible, lay all the back frontiers in ruins
this Winter." In a postscript to this letter, Croghan asks for
guns and powder, and says that he is building a stockade, which
he expects to complete by the middle of the next week.
Penn's Creek Massacre
On October 16th, 1755, just one week after George Croghan
wrote the foregoing letter, began the terrible massacre of the
German settlers along Penn's Creek, which empties into the Sus-
quehanna near Selinsgrove, Snyder County — the first Indian
outrage in Pennsylvania, after Braddock's defeat, and the first
actual violation, by the Delawares, of the treaty of peace which
William Penn entered into with the great Tamanend shortly
after his arrival in the Province. The massacre extended from a
point near New Berlin, Union County to a point near Selinsgrove,
and lasted for two days, according to the statements of Barbara
Leininger and Marie le Roy (Mary King), two girls captured on
this occasion. The Indians, fourteen in number, and all Dela-
THE FIRST DELAWARE INVASION 205
wares, came from the Allegheny Valley, principally from Kit-
tanning, over the trail used by the Delawares in their first great
exodus from the region of Shamokin to the valleys of the Ohio
and Allegheny, One of the leaders of the Indian band was the
chief, Keckenepaulin, who lived for some time near Jenners' Cross
Roads, in Somerset County, and whose name has been applied
to the Shawnee town at the mouth of the Loyalhanna, possibly
due to the fact that he resided there for a time. Other members
of the band were Joseph Compass, young James Compass, young
Thomas Hickman, Kalasquay, Souchy, Machynego and Katooch-
quay.
The first account of this massacre was given by John Harris
(later founder of Harrisburg), writing from his trading house at
Paxtang (Harrisburg), to Governor Morris, on October 20th:
"I was informed last night by a person that came down our
river that there was a Dutch [German] woman who had made her
escape to George Gabriel's, [near Selinsgrove], and informs that
last Friday Evening on her way home from this Settlement to
Mahanoy [Penn's Creek] where her family lived, she called at a
Neighbor's House and saw two persons laying by the door of said
house murdered and scalped, that there were some Dutch [Ger-
man] familys that lived near left their places immediately, not
thinking it safe to stay any longer. It's the opinion of the people
up the river that the familys on Penn's Creek, being but scattered,
that few in number are killed or carried off, except the above said
woman, the certainty of which will soon be known, as there are
some men gone out to bury the dead." (Pa. Col. Rec. Vol. 6,
page 645.)
In a postscript to the above letter, Harris says that a man has
just arrived with additional information as to the number of
settlers killed and captured along Penn's Creek. He adds that
the Indians at Paxtang, mostly of the Six Nations, urge the Gover-
nor to put the Province in a state of defense. Their chief, Belt
of Wampum, strongly insisted on this. Then Conrad Weiser, on
October 22nd, wrote from Reading to the Governor, stating that
information has been received that six families have been mur-
dered on Penn's Creek, about four miles from its mouth; that
altogether twenty-eight are missing; that the people of those
parts are leaving their plantations in consternation, and that two
of his sons have gone to Penn's Creek to help one of their cousins
and his family escape with their lives.
On the same day (October 20th), the following petition of the
206 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
inhabitants "living near the mouth of Penn's Creek on the West
side of the Susquehanna," signed by seventeen, giving some of
the details of the massacre, was sent the Governor:
"That on or about the sixteen of this instant, October, the
Enemy came down upon the said Creek and killed, scalped and
carried away all the men, women and children, amounting to
25 persons in number, and wounded one man who fortunately
made his escape and brought us the news; whereupon we, the
Subscribers, went out and buried the dead, whom we found most
barbarously murdered and scalped. We found but 13, which
were men and elderly women, and one child of two weeks old, the
rest being young women and children we suppose to be carried
away prisoners; the House (where we suppose they finished their
Murder), we found burnt up, and the man of it, named Jacob
King, a Swissar, lying just by it; he lay on his back barbarously
burnt and two Tomahawks sticking in his forehead; one of the
tomahawks, marked newly with W. D., we have sent to your
Honour. The terror of which has drove away almost all these
back inhabitants except us, the Subscribers, with a few more who
are willing to stay and endeavor to defend the land; but as we
are not able of ourselves to defend it for want of Guns and Ammu-
nition, and but few in number, so that, without assistance we must
fly and leave the Country at the mercy of the Enemy." (Pa. Col.
Rec, Vol. 6, pages 647-648.)
The persons captured during this horrible massacre were:
Barbara Leininger, Rachel (Regina) Leininger, Marie le Roy,
Jacob le Roy, Marian Wheeler, Hanna, wife of Jacob Breylinger,
and two of their children, one of whom died at Kittanning of
starvation, Peter Lick and his two sons, John and William. (Pa.
Archives, Vol. 3, page 633.)
Barbara Leininger and Marie le Roy were neighbor girls, aged
about twelve years, living about one half mile apart and near the
present town of New Berlin, Marie le Roy was a daughter of
Jean Jaques le Roy, alias Jacob King, one of the victims of the
massacre. The Indians took these girls and others with them.
When they arrived at Chinklacamoose (Clearfield), Marie's
brother Jacob was left with the Delawares of that place. The
Indians then took the two girls to Punxsutawney, thence to
Kittanning, at which place they arrived in December and re-
mained until after Colonel John Armstrong destroyed this noted
Delaware town, September 8th, 1756. Here they were compelled
to witness the torture of some English prisoners. In their "Nar-
THE FIRST DELAWARE INVASION 207
rative," found in Pa. Ar., Sec. Series Vol. 7, pages 401 to 412, they
describe one of these tortures, that of a woman who had attempted
to escape. It is a shocking recital. After the woman was dead,
"an English soldier, named John , who escaped from prison
at Lancaster, and joined the French, had a piece of flesh cut from
her body, and ate it."
Barbara and Marie were taken to Fort Duquesne soon after
Colonel Armstrong's expedition, where they remained for two
months. They say that the French at the fort tried to persuade
them to leave the Indians captors and stay with them, but that
they "could not abide the French," and felt that they were better
off among the Indians. From Fort Duquesne, they were taken
to Sauconk, at the mouth of the Beaver, where they remained
until the spring of 1757, when they were taken up the Beaver to
Kuskuskies. They were among the Delawares at Kuskuskies
when Christian Frederick Post visited that place, in the autumn
of 1758, on his peace mission to the Western Delawares. They
met him, but the Indians did not permit them to speak with him.
Shortly after General Forbes captured Fort Duquesne, on Novem-
ber 25th, 1758, they were taken to the Muskingum, to which
place the Delawares then fled from Sauconk,, Logstown, Kus-
kuskies, Shenango (located on the Shenango River, just below the
town of Sharon, Mercer County) and other Indian towns in
Western Pennsylvania. From Muskingum, the girls made their
escape, on March 16th, 1759, coming to the newly erected Fort
Pitt, thence by way of Ligonier, Bedford and Carlisle to Phila-
delphia, at which place they arrived on May 6th, being conducted
part of the way from Fort Pitt by soldiers commanded by Captain
Samuel Weiser, son of the famous Indian interpreter of Pennsyl-
vania, Conrad Weiser. After arriving at Philadelphia, they
appeared before the Provincial Council, and gave an account of
their terrible experiences. (See Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 633.)
Later they published their "Narrative," from which we quote the
following about the Penn's Creek massacre:
"Early in the morning of the 16th of October, 1755, while
le Roy's [the father of Marie] hired man went out to fetch the
cows, he heard the Indians shooting six times. Soon after, eight
of them came to the house, and killed Barbara (Marie) le Roy's
father with tomahawks. Her brother defended himself des-
perately for a time, but was at last overpowered. The Indians did
not kill him, but took him prisoner, together with Marie le Roy
and a little girl who was staying with the family. Thereupon
208 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
they plundered the homestead, and set it on fire. Into this fire
they laid the body of the murdered father, feet foremost, until it
was half consumed. The upper half was left lying on the ground,
with the two tomahawks with which they had killed him, sticking
in his head. Then they kindled another fire, not far from the
house. While sitting around it, a neighbor of le Roy, named
Bastian, happened to pass by on horseback. He was immediately
shot down and scalped.
"Two of the Indians now went to the house of Barbara Leinin-
ger, where they found her father, her brother, and her sister,
Regina. Her mother had gone to the mill. They demanded rum,
but there was none in the house. They then called for tobacco,
which was given them. Having filled and smoked a pipe, they
said: 'We are Allegheny Indians, and your enemies. You must
all die!' Thereupon, they shot her father, tomahawked her
brother, who was twenty years of age, took Barbara and her
sister Regina prisoners, and conveyed them into the forest for
about a mile. They were soon joined by the other Indians, with
Marie le Roy and the little girl.
"Not long after, several of the Indians led the prisoners to the
top of a high hill, near the two plantations. Toward evening the
rest of the savages returned with six fresh and bloody scalps,
which they threw at the feet of the poor captives, saying that they
had a good hunt that day.
"The next morning we were taken about two miles further
into the forest, while the most of the Indians again went out to
kill and plunder. Toward evening they returned with nine scalps
and five prisoners.
"On the third day the whole band came together and divided
the spoils. In addition to large quantities of provisions, they had
taken fourteen horses and ten prisoners, namely: One man, one
woman, five girls and three boys. We two girls, as also two of
the horses, fell to the share of an Indian named Galasko. We
traveled with our new master for two days. He was tolerably
kind, and allowed us to ride all the way, while he and the rest of
the Indians walked."
It is significant that the Penn's Creek Massacre took place
almost on the line of the Albany Purchase of July, 1754, which
so offended the Delawares and Shawnees. It is said that the line
would have passed through the land of Jacob King, alias le Roy.
The Penn's Creek settlers had come to this place in 1754.
Also, it is a strange anomaly in the record of Pennsylvania's
THE FIRST DELAWARE INVASION 209
relations with the Indians that the first blow struck by the Indians
against the Province fell upon the German settlers, who had
always treated the Indian kindly. While others went to the
Indian "with a musket in one hand and a bottle of rum in the
other," the German settlers on the border land did not cheat him
or take advantage of him in any way. There is no sublimer
chapter in American history than the account, for instance, of
the efforts of the Moravian Missionaries, Germans, to win the
Indians of Pennsylvania to the Christian faith.
Attack on John Harris
On October 23d, John Harris, Thomas Forster, Captain McKee
and Adam Terence went from Harris' trading house at Paxtang
to Penn's Creek, with a force of between forty and fifty men, to
bury the dead of the massacre of October 16th and 17th. When
they arrived, they found that this had already been done. They
then decided to return immediately to the settlement at Paxtang,
but were urged by John Shikellamy, son of the vice-gerent of the
Six Nations, and the Belt of Wampum, (or the Belt, also called
White Thunder), a Seneca chief, to go to Shamokin (Sunbury),
about five miles farther up the Susquehanna, in order to ascertain
the feelings of the Indians at that place, which they did.
Harris and his companions found many strange Delawares at
Shamokin, all painted black, Andrew Montour being with them
and also painted black. These Delawares had come from the
valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny to advise the Delawares at
Shamokin and other places on the Susquehanna that the Dela-
wares of the Ohio and Allegheny had taken up arms against the
English, and to warn all those of this tribe on the Susquehanna
who would not join them to move away.
Harris and his men spent the night (October 24th) at Shamokin.
In the night time, Adam Terrence overheard Delawares talking
as follows: "What are the English [Harris and his men] come here
for? To kill us, I suppose. Can't we then send off some of our
nimble young men to give our friends notice that will soon be
here." Then, after they had sung a war song, four of them went
off, well armed, in two canoes, one across the Susquehanna and
the other down the river.
At this point, we call attention to the fact that, after the
councils held at Shamokin that night and later, the hostile Dela-
wares gathered at Nescopeck, at the mouth of the creek of the
210 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
same name, in Luzerne County, where later many a bloody ex-
pedition was planned by Shingas, Captain Jacobs, Teedyuscung
and other of their chiefs. Also, at the time of these councils at
Shamokin, the Moravian missionary, Keifer, was residing at that
place, exposed to imminent danger, whereupon the friendly
Shawnee chief, Paxinosa, of Wyoming, sent two of his sons who
rescued the missionary and conducted him safely to the Moravian
mission at Gnadenhuetten.
But to return to Harris and his band. They left Shamokin on
the morning of October 25th. Before leaving they were advised
by Scarouady and Andrew Montour, who were present, not to
follow the western side of the river on their return. However,
disregarding this advice, they marched down the west side of the
river. When they reached the mouth of Penn's Creek, they were
fired upon by Delawares hidden in the bushes. Harris describes
the attack as follows :
"We were attacked by about twenty or thirty Indians, received
their fire, and about fifteen of our men and myself took to the
trees and attacked the villians, killed four of them on the spot,
and lost but three men, retreating about half a mile through the
woods and crossing the Susquehanna, one of which was shot from
off an horse, riding behind myself through the river. My horse
before was wounded, and falling in the river, I was obliged to
quit and swim part of the way. Four or five of our men were
drowned crossing the river." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 654,
655.)
John Harris gave the above account in a letter written to
Governor Morris, on October 28th. He adds:
"The old Belt of Wampum promised me at Shamokin to send
out spies to view the enemy, and upon his hearing of our Skirmish
was in a rage, gathered up 30 Indians immediately and went
in pursuit of the enemy, I am this day informed . . . The Indians
are all assembling themselves at Shamokin to counsel; a large
body of them were there four days ago. I cannot learn their in-
tentions, but it seems Andrew Montour and Scarouady are to
bring down the news from them. There is not a sufficient num-
ber of them to oppose the enemy ; and perhaps they will all join
the enemy against us. There is no dependence on Indians, and
we are in imminent danger.
"I got information from Andrew Montour and others that there
is a body of French with fifteen hundred Indians coming upon us,
— Picks, Ottawas, Orandox, Delawares, Shawnees, and a number
THE FIRST DELAWARE INVASION 211
of the Six Nations, — and are not many days march from this
Province and Virginia, which are appointed to be attacked. At
the same time, some of the Shawnee Indians seem friendly, and
others appear Hke enemies. Montour knew many days ago of
the Indians being on their march against us before he informed;
for which I said as much to him as I thought prudent, considering
the place I was in."
"I just now received information that there was a French
Officer, supposed to be a Captain, with a party of Shawonese,
Delawares, etc., within six miles of the Shamokin two days ago,
and no doubt intends to take possession of it, which will be of
dreadful consequence to us if suffered. The inhabitants are
abandoning their plantations, and we are in a dreadful situation."
Then in a postscript, he says: "The night ensuing our attack
the Indians burnt all George Gabriel's Houses, danced around
them, etc."
The report to the effect that there was a "body of French with
fifteen hundred Indians" on the march from the Ohio to the
Pennsylvania settlements was but one of the rumors that, at that
dreadful time, filled the unprotected frontier with terror.
Massacre on East Side of the Susquehanna
On the same day that the Delawares made the attack on John
Harris, or probably the next day, they crossed the Susquehanna
and killed many settlers from Thomas McKee's to Hunter's Mill.
Conrad Weiser, in a letter, written from his home near Womels-
dorf to James Reed at Reading late in the night of October 26th,
describes this incursion as follows:
"This evening, about an hour ago, I received the news of the
Enemy having crossed the Susquehanna and killed a great many
people from Thomas McKee's down to Hunter's Mill. Mr.
Elders [the Rev. John Elder, pastor of the Presbyterian Church
at Paxtang, later Colonel], the minister of Paxton, wrote this to
another Presbyterian Minister in the neighborhood of Adam Reed
Esq." (Squire Adam Read who lived on Swatara Creek.) (Pa.
Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 650.)
Learning of this incursion so closely following the Penn's Creek
massacre and the attack on his party, John Harris nevertheless
determined not to flee. On October 29ch, (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6,
page 656), he wrote Edward Shippen, of Lancaster, that he had
that day cut holes in his trading house and "determined to hold
212 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
out to the last extremity." "We expect the Enemy upon us every
day, and the Inhabitants are abandoning their Plantations,"
further wrote Harris, in his letter.
Attention is called to the fact that in this same letter John
Harris urged the erection of a fort at some "convenient place up
the Susquehannah," as a gathering place for friendly Delawares
on this river as well a place for the defense of the Province by its
white inhabitants. In doing this he was in line with the urgent
request of the Belt, the friendly Seneca. There is no doubt that
the lack of such a fort had much to do with the going over to the
French of many Delawares and Shawnees on the Susquehanna,
who otherwise would have remained at peace with Pennsylvania.
The English trade was blotted out by the French, who, after
having gotten complete possession of the Ohio and Allegheny
and the allegiance of the Delawares and Shawnees of their
valleys, were now planning to take possession of the Susquehanna
and erect a fort at Shamokin. The French and their Indian
allies had the supplies the Delawares and Shawnees on the
Susquehanna so sorely need, and being unable to get ammunition
and other supplies from the English, many of the Indians on the
Susquehanna now turned to the French.
Weiser Plans Defense of the Province
The news of the massacres at Penn's Creek and its vicinity
spread fast, and from a letter written from Reading by Conrad
Weiser to Governor Morris on October 30th, (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol.
6, pages 656-659), we find that he immediately alarmed the
settlers of Berks County. The farmers, to the number of more
than two hundred, armed with guns, swords, axes, pitchforks and
whatever they chanced to possess, gathered at Benjamin Spicker's
near Stouchsburg, about six miles from Weiser's home. Weiser
sent privately for Rev. J. N. Kurtz, a Lutheran clergyman, who
resided about a mile from Spicker's, and after an exhortation and
prayer by this clergyman, the farmers were divided into com-
panies of thirty, each under a captain selected by themselves.
Weiser then took up his march towards the Susquehanna in the
early morning of October 28th, having sent fifty men "to Tolheo
in order to possess themselves of the Capes or Narrows of Swaha-
tawro, where we expected the enemy would come through." These
carried a letter from Weiser to William Parsons, who happened to
THE FIRST DELAWARE INVASION 213
be at his plantation. Weiser's force increased rapidly in number
on the way, and at ten o'clock (October 28th), reached Adam
Read's on Swatara Creek, in East Hanover Township, Lebanon
County. Here intelligence was received of the attack on John
Harris and his party who had gone to bury the dead of the Penn's
Creek Massacre. This news dampened the ardor of Weiser's men,
and they concluded that they could afiford more protection to
their families by remaining at home. They accordingly wended
their way back to their homes, hearing a rumor as they were re-
turning, that the Indians had already made their way through
Tolheo Gap and killed a number of people.
William Parsons received the letter sent him by Weiser. In a
letter, found in Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 443, he tells that he met
the advance guard of Weiser's forces, and advised them to make a
breastwork of trees at Swatara Gap. They went as far as the top
of the mountain, fired their guns in the air, and then came back,
firing the whole way to the terror of the inhabitants. Presently
came the news of the murder of a certain Henry Hartman, who
lived over the mountain just beyond Swatara Gap. As Mr.
Parsons and a party were on their way to bury Hartman 's body,
they were told of two more men who had recently been killed and
scalped, and of several others who were missing. It was a terrible
time. The roads were filled with settlers fleeing from their homes.
Confusion reigned supreme. Though the settlers lacked military
experience, they were, at heart, brave and true men. Governor
Morris, on October 31st, answered Weiser's letter of October 30th,
commending his conduct and zeal, and enclosing him a commis-
sion as Colonel that he might have greater authority in those
trying times. A few days later, Weiser accompanied Scarouady,
Andrew Montour and "drunken Zigrea" to Philadelphia, where
Scarouady held the important conferences with Governor Morris,
on November 8th to 14th, described later in this history.
Benjamin Spicker or Spycker, above mentioned, lived in what
is now Jackson Township, Lebanon County, not far from the
Berks County line. Several miles west of Spicker's and a short
distance east of Myerstown, Lebanon County, was the fortified
house of Philip Breitenbach. On several occasions, when there
were Indian alarms, Mr. Breitenbach took a drum and beat it on
a little hill near his house, to collect his neighbors from their labors
into the blockhouse. On one occasion, the Indians pursued them
so close to the blockhouse that one of the inmates shot one of the
red men dead on the spot.
214 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Regina, the German Captive
We close this chapter with the interesting narrative of "Regina,
the German Captive," first quoting it as it appears in "The
Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania," and then adding some com-
ments which show that its inclusion in the present chapter is not
inappropriate. The story is as follows:
"The Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg [a son-in-law of Con-
rad Weiser] relates in the 'Hallische Nachrichten,' page 1029, a
touching incident, which has been frequently told, but is so
'apropos' to this record that it should not be omitted. It was of
the widow of John Hartman who called at his house in February,
1765, who had been a member of one of Rev. Kurtz's [a Lutheran
pastor in Berks County] congregations. She and her husband
had emigrated to this country from Reutlingen, Wurtemberg, and
settled on the frontiers of Lebanon County. The Indians fell
upon them in October, 1755, killed her husband, one of the sons,
and carried off two small daughters into captivity, whilst she and
the other son were absent. On her return she found the home in
ashes, and her family either dead or lost to her, whereupon she
fled to the interior settlements at Tulpehocken and remained
there.
"The sequel to this occurrence is exceedingly interesting The
two girls were taken away. It was never known what became of
Barbara, the elder, but Regina, with another little girl two years
old, were given to an old Indian women, who treated them very
harshly. In the absence of her son, who supplied them with food,
she drove the children into the woods to gather herbs and roots
to eat, and, when they failed to get enough, beat them cruelly.
So they lived until Regina was about nineteen years old and the
other girl eleven. Her mother was a good Christian woman, and
had taught her daughters their prayers, together with many texts
from the Scriptures, and their beautiful German hymns, much of
which clung to her memory during all these years of captivity.
"At last, in the providence of God, Colonel Bouquet brought
the Indians under subjection in 1764, [at the end of Pontiac's
War] and obliged them to give up their captives. More than two
hundred of these unfortunate beings were gathered together at
Carlisle, amongst them the two girls, and notices were sent all
over the country for those who had lost friends and relatives, of
that fact. Parents and husbands came, in some instances,
hundreds of miles, in the hope of recovering those they had lost,
THE FIRST DELAWARE INVASION 215
the widow being one of the number. There were many joyful
scenes, but more sad ones. So many changes had taken place,
that in many instances, recognition seemed impossible. This was
the case with the widow. She went up and down the long line,
but, in the young women who stood before her, dressed in Indian
costume, she failed to recognize the little girls she had lost. As
she tood, gazing and weeping, Colonel Bouquet compassionately
suggested that she do something which might recall the past to
her children. She could think of nothing but a hymn which was
formerly a favorite with the little ones:
'AUein, und doch nicht ganz allein.
Bin ich in meiner Einsamkeit.'
[The English translation of the first stanza of this hymn is as
follows :
'Alone, yet not alone am I,
Though in this solitude so drear;
I feel my Saviour always nigh.
He comes the very hour to cheer;
I am with Him, and He with me.
E'en here alone I cannot be.' ]
"She commenced singing, in German, but had barely completed
two lines, when poor Regina rushed from the crowd, began to
sing also and threw her arms around her mother. They both
wept for joy and the Colonel gave the daughter up to her mother.
But the other girl had no parents, they having probably been
murdered. She clung to Regina and begged to be taken home
with her. Poor as was the widow she could not resist the appeal
and the three departed together."
The foregoing account is all based on the original account
written by the Rev. Henry Melchior, Muhlenberg, D.D., in his
"Hallische Nachrichten," with the exception of the family name
of the mother and daughter. Muhlenberg does not give the name
of the family and does not definitely give the location of the
tragedy. In time the belief became quite general among Penn-
sylvania historians that Regina was a daughter of John Hartman,
born June 20th, 1710, and that the scene of the tragedy is at or
near the site of the town of Orwigsburg, Schuylkill County.
Captain H. M. M. Richards, a descendant of Muhlenberg, con-
tends in his "The Pennsylvania-German in the French and Indian
War" (Vol. XV of the Publications of the Pennsylvania German
Society), that Regina was none other than Regina Leininger, who,
216 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
as we have seen, was captured at the Penn's Creek massacre of
October 16th, 1755, the very date Muhlenberg gives as the date
of the tragedy described in his account. In addition to the date
of the alleged Hartman tragedy being the same as the date of
the Leininger tragedy, the following points of similarity in the
narrative of Rev. Muhlenberg and the narrative of Marie Le
Roy and Barbara Leininger will be noted: In each tragedy, the
mother was absent, the father was killed, a son was killed and
two daughters, one named Regina and the other Barbara, were
captured.
Furthermore, Muhlenberg says that the father "was already
advanced in years, and too feeble to endure hard labor;" but
John Hartman would have been only forty-five years old at the
time of the tragedy. Also, there is no record of Indian outrages
east of the Susquehanna until after the attack on John Harris
(October, 25th), and none in the neighborhood of Orwigsburg
until at least the middle of November.
We believe that any one who will closely compare the narrative
of Barbara Leininger and Marie le Roy with Muhlenberg's ac-
count will agree with Captain Richards that each narrative
describes the same tragedy — that Regina "Hartman" was Regina
Leininger, and that she became permanently separated from her
sister Barbara at the time of the flight of the Indians and their
captives from Kuskuskies to the Muskingum, after General
Forbes captured Fort Duquesne.
"Regina, the German Captive," and her mother are said to be
buried in Christ Lutheran Cemetery, near Stouchsburg, Berks
County. Whether or not the dust of this daughter of the Penn-
sylvania frontier reposes in this cemetery, and whether her
name was Regina Leininger or Regina Hartman, God knows
where she sleeps and has written her name in his book of ever-
lasting remembrance.
CHAPTER VIII
Invasion of Great and Little Coves
and the Conolloways
ON October 31st, 1755, one hundred Delawares and Shawnees
from the Ohio and Allegheny began an invasion of the Scotch
Irish settlements in the Great or Big Cove and along the Big and
Little Conolloway Creeks in Fulton County and the Little Cove
in Franklin County. This incursion lasted for several days and
virtually blotted out these settlements. Of the ninety-three
settlers in the Great Cove, forty-seven were killed and captured.
No pen can describe the horrors of this bloody incursion. In-
furiated Indians dashed out the brains of little children against
the door-posts of cabins of the settlers in the presence of shrieking
mothers, and, it is said, in some cases, cut off the heads of children
and drank their warm blood. Wives and mothers were tied to
trees, and compelled to witness the torture of their husbands and
children. One woman, over ninety years of age, was found with
her breasts cut ofif and a stake driven through her body. Scores
of houses and barns were burned. Horses and cattle were killed
or driven off. The captured settlers were taken to Kittanning
and other Delaware and Shawnee towns in the valleys of the
Allegheny and Ohio, and later to the Tuscarawas and Muskin-
gum, few of whom ever returned.
The leader of the Indians was Shingas, the "Delaware King,"
a brother of King Beaver or Tamaque, and Pisquetomen and said
by some authorities to have been a nephew of the great Sassoonan,
or Allumapees. This was the first of those incursions which made
the name of Shingas "a terror to the frontier settlements of
Pennsylvania." Heckewelder says of him: "Were his war ex-
ploits all on record, they would form an interesting document,
though a shocking one. Conococheague, Big Cove, Sherman's
Valley and other settlements along the frontier felt his strong
arm sufficiently that he was a bloody warrior, cruel his treat-
218 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
ment, relentless his fury. His person was small, but in point of
courage and activity, savage prowess, he was said to have never
been exceeded by any one." Yet Heckewelder further says that,
though Shingas was terrible and vindictive in battle, he was
nevertheless kind to prisoners whose lives he intended to spare.
"One day," he says, "in the summer of 1762, while passing with
him [Shingas] near by where two prisoners of his, boys about
twelve years of age, were amusing themselves with his own boys,
as the chief observed that my attention was arrested by them, he
asked me at what I was looking. Telling him in reply that I was
looking at his prisoners, he said: 'When I first took them, they
were such ; but now they and my children eat their food from the
same bowl, or dish.* Which was equivalent to saying that they
were, in all respects, on an equal footing with his own children, or
alike dear to him." Shingas was at that time living on the
Muskingum.
But let us return to the scenes of blood and death in the Coves
and along the Conolloways. The following letters vividly tell
the story of this incursion :
Benjamin Chambers (later Colonel), writing from his home at
Falling Springs, now Chambersburg, Franklin County, on Nov-
ember 2nd, "to the inhabitants of the lower part of the County of
Cumberland," tells of this bloody incursion as follows:
"If you intend to go to the assistance of your neighbours, you
need wait any longer for the certainty of the news. The Great
Cove is destroyed ; James Campbell left this company last night
and went to the fort at Mr. Steel's meeting house, and there saw
some of the inhabitants of the Great Cove, who gave this account
that, as they came over the hill, they saw their houses in flames.
The messenger says that there is but 100, and that they divided
into two parts. The one part to go against the Cove and the other
against the Conolloways, and that there are no French among
them. They are Delawares and Shawnees. The part that came
against the Cove are under the command of Shingas, the Dela-
ware King; the people of the Cove that came off saw several men
lying dead; they heard the murder shout and the firing of guns,
and saw the Indians going into the houses that they had come out
of before they left sight of the Cove. I have sent express to Marsh
Creek at the same time that I send this, so I expect there will be
a good company from there this day, and as there is but 100 of
the enemy, I think it is in our power (if God permit) to put them
to flight, if you turn out well from your parts. I understand that
INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 219
the west settlement is designed to go if they can get any assistance
to repel them." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 675-676.)
Likewise, John Armstrong (later Colonel) wrote Governor
Morris from Carlisle, on November 2nd:
"At four o'clock this afternoon by expresses from Conego-
chego, we are informed that yesterday about 100 Indians were
seen in the Great Cove. Among whom was Shingas, the Delaware
King; that immediately after the discovery, as many as had
notice fled, and looking back from an high hill, they beheld their
houses on fire, heard several guns fired and the last shrieks of
their dying neighbours; 'tis said the enemy divided and one part
moved towards Canallowais. Mr. Hamilton was here with 60
men from York County when the express came, and is to march
early tomorrow to the upper part of the county. We have sent
out expresses everywhere, and intend to collect the forces of this
lower part, expecting the enemy every moment at Sherman's
Valley, if not nearer hand. I'm of opinion that no other means
than a chain of block houses along or near the south side of the
Kittatinny Mountain, from Susquehannah to the temporary line,
can secure the lives and properties even of the old inhabitants of
this county, the new settlement being all fled except Sherman's
Valley, whom (if God do not preserve) we fear will suff'er very
soon." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, page 676.)
The following day (November 3d), Adam Hoops wrote Gover-
nor Morris, from Conococheague, concerning the same incursion,
as follows:
"I am sorry I have to trouble you with this melancholy and
disagreeable news, for on Saturday I received an express from
Peters Township that the inhabitants of the Great Cove were all
murdered or taken captive and their houses and barns all in
flames. Some few fled, upon notice brought them by a certain
Patrick Burns, a captive, that made his escape that very morning
before this sad tragedy was done.
"Upon this information, John Potter, Esq., and self, sent ex-
press through our neighborhood, which induced many of them to
meet with us at John McDowell's Mill, where I with many others
had the unhappy prospect to see the smoke of two houses that
were set on fire by the Indians, viz, Matthew Patton's and Mes-
check James', where their cattle were shot down, the horses
standing bleeding with Indian arrows in them, but the Indians
fled.
"The Rev. Mr. Steel, John Potter, Esq., and several others
220 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
with us, to the number of about an hundred, went in quest of the
Indians, with all the expedition imaginable, but to no success.
These Indians have likewise taken two women captives, belonging
to said township. I very much fear the Path Valley has under-
gone the same fate. George Croghan was at Aughwick, where he
had a small fort and about 35 men, but whether he has been
molested or not we cannot say.
"We, to be sure, are in as bad circumstances as ever any poor
Christians were in, for the cries of the widowers, widows, father-
less and motherless children, with many others, for their relations,
are enough to pierce the hardest of hearts; likewise it's a very sor-
rowful spectacle to see those that escaped with their lives with
not a mouthful to eat, or bed to lie on, or clothes to cover their
nakedness, or keep them warm, but all they had consumed into
ashes.
"These deplorable circumstances cry aloud for your Honour's
most wise consideration, that you would take cognizance of and
grant what shall seem most meet, for it is really very shocking, it
must be, for the husband to see the wife of his bosom, her head
cut off, and the children's blood drank like water by these bloody
and cruel savages as we are informed has been the fate of many.
"Whilst I am writing, I had intelligence by some that fled out
of the Coves that chiefly the upper part of it was killed and taken.
One, Galloway's son, escaped after he saw his grand-mother shot
down and other relations taken prisoners. Likewise, from some
news I have likewise heard, I am apprehensive that George
Croghan is in distress, though just now Mr. Burd, with about 40
men, left my house and we intend to join him tomorrow at
McDowell's Mill, with all the force we can raise, in order to see
what damages are done, and for his relief. As we have no
magazines at present to supply the guards or scouts, the whole
weight of their maintenence lies chiefly upon a few persons."
(Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 462 and 463.)
Also, on November 3d, John Potter, Sheriff of Cumberland
County, wrote Secretary Richard Peters, from Conococheague,
as follows:
"Sir: This comes ye melancholy account of the ruin of the
Great Cove, which is reduced to ashes, and numbers of the in-
habitants murdered and taken captives on Saturday last about
three of the clock in the afternoon. I received intelligence in
conjunction with Mr. Adam Hoopes, and sent immediately and
appointed our neighbors to meet at McDowell's. On Sunday
INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 221
morning, I was not there six minutes till we observed, about a
mile and half distant, one Mathew Patton's house and barn in
flames, on which we sat off with about forty men, tho' there was
as least one hundred and sixty there. Our old officers hid them-
selves for (ought as I know) to save their scalps until afternoon
when danger was over; we went to Patton's with a seeming resolu-
tion and courage but found no Indians there, on which we
advanced to a rising ground, where we immediately discovered
another house and barn on fire belonging to Mesach James, about
one mile up the creek from Thomas Bar's; we set off directly for
that place, but they had gone up the creek to another plantation
left by one widow Jordan the day before, but had unhappily
gone back that morning with a young woman, daughter to one
William Clark, for some milk for childer, were both taken captives
but neither house nor barn hurt. I have heard of no more burnt
in that valley yet, which makes me believe they have gone off for
some time, but I much fear they will return before we are prepared
for them, for it was three of the clock in the afternoon before a
recruit came of about sixty men. Then we held council whether
to pursue up the valley all night or return to McDowell's, the
former of which I and Mr. Hoop and some others plead for, but
could not obtain without putting it to votes, which done, we
were out voted by a considerable number, upon which I and my
company was left by them that night and came home, for I will
not guard a man that will not fight when called in so eminent
manner, for there was not six of these men that would consent to
go in pursuit of the Indians.
"I am much afraid that Juniata, Tuscaroro, and Sherman's
Valley hath suffered. There is two-thirds of the inhabitants of
this valley who hath already fled, leaving their plantations, and,
without speedy succor be granted, I am of opinion this county
will be lead dissolute without inhabitant. Last night I had a
family of upwards of an hundred of women and children who fled
for succor. You cannot form no just idea of the distressed and
distracted condition of our inhabitants unless your eyes seen and
your ears heard their crys. I am of opinion it is not in the power
of our representatives to meet in assembly at this time. If our
Assembly will give us any additional supply of arms and am-
munition, the latter of which is most wanted, I could wish it
were put into the hands of such persons as would go out upon
scouts after the Indians rather than for the supply of forts." (Pa.
Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 673, 674.)
222 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Then, on November 6th, Adam Hoops again wrote Governor
Morris, from Conococheague :
"I have Sent in Closed, Is 2 quaUfications of which is Patrick
Burns, who is the bearer, and a tameyhak which was found
Sticking in the brest of one, David McClellan. The people of
the path valley is all Gethered Unto a small fort, and the last
account, was Safe. The Great Cove and Kennalaways is all
Burned to Ashes, and about 50 persons killed or taken. There is
numbers of the inhabitants of this County have moved their
families. Sum to York County, and Sum to Maryland; Hans
Hamilton, Esq. is now at John McDowell's mill with upwards of
200 men and about 200 from this County, in all about four
hundred men, and tomorrow we entends To go into the Cove
and to the Path Valley, in order To Bring what Cattle and horses
that the Indians hath Left alive; we are informed by a Dolloway
Indian, which lives munghts us, on the same day The Murder
was Committed, he Seen four hundred Indians in the Cove, and
we have Sum Reason to Believe they are about there yet; the
people of Sheer Man's Crick and Juneate is all Cum away and
left there houses, and there is now about 30 miles Of this County
laid waste, and I am afraid there will Be Soon more.
"P. S. I just now have received ye Account of one, George
McSwane, who was taken captive about 14 Days ago, and has
made his Escape, and has brought two Scalps and a Tomahawk
with Him." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 474, 475.)
The Pennsylvania Gazette, November 13th, 1755, gives a
partial list of those killed and captured in the Great Cove, Little
Cove and the Conolloways, as follows: Elizabeth Galloway,
William Fleming's son and one, Hicks, Henry Gilson, Robert
Peer and David McClellan were all killed; while John Martin's
wife and five children, William Galloway's wife and two children,
a certain young woman, Charles Stewart's wife and two children,
David McClellan's wife and two children and William Fleming
and wife were captured.
Other captives, taken in this incursion and later delivered up
by the Delaware chief, King Beaver, at the Lancaster Council of
August, 1762, were Elizabeth McAdam and John Lloyd, from the
Little Cove, and Dorothy Shobrian, from the Big Cove. (Pa.
Col. Rec, Vol. 8, page 728.) Many of the captives, taken in this
incursion, were delivered up to Colonel Bouquet at the time of
his expedition to the Muskingum, in the autumn of 1764.
INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 223
In the Penna. Col. Records, Vol. 6, page 767, is found another
reference to this incursion, as follows:
"October 31st. An Indian Trader and two other men in the
Tuscarora Valley were killed by Indians, and their Houses burnt,
on which most of the Settlers fled and abandoned their Planta-
tions.
(One of these men was the Indian trader, Peter Shaver, for
whom Shaver's Creek, in Huntingdon County, is named. An-
other was John Savage.)
"November 3d. Two women are carried away from Conego-
chege (Conococheague) by the Indians, and the same day the
Canalaways and Little Cove, two other considerable settlements,
were attacked by them, their Houses burnt, and the whole
Settlement deserted."
The Pennsylvania Gazette, February 12th, 1756, gives the
number of people murdered and captured along the Conolloways.
James Seaton, Catherine Stillwell and one of her children were
killed and scalped, while two others of her children, one aged
eight years and the other three, were captured. Richard Still-
well, her husband, was at a neighbors when the tragedy at his
home occurred, and made his escape to a block house in the
neighborhood. The houses of Elias Stillwell, John McKinney
and Richard Malone were burned.
Rev. John Steel
The "fort at Mr. Steel's meeting house," mentioned in Ben-
jamin Chambers' letter of November 2nd, where the survivors of
the Great Cove massacre found refuge, was named in honor of
the Presbyterian minister. Rev. John Steel, and was one of the
first forts erected after Braddock's defeat, being a stockade
around the church, and located about three miles east of Mercers-
burg, Franklin County. It was known as the "Old White
Church," and was subsequently burned by the Indians in one of
their forays. In 1756, Rev. Steel was appointed Captain in a
company in the pay of the Province, and for a time, made his
headquarters at McDowell's Mill, or Fort McDowell, located in
the western part of Franklin County. From this place he de-
tached parties from time to time to scour the woods in search of
hostile Indians. About 1758, he took charge of the Presbyterian
church at Carlisle, where he ended his days. In March and
April, 1768, he and John Allison, Cristopher Lemes and James
224 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Potter were sent by Governor John Penn to warn the settlers in
the vicinity of Redstone (Brownsville) to remove from lands not
purchased from the Indians. Rev. Steel and his men are fre-
quently mentioned in the records of the troublesome times of
which we are writing. On page 553 of Vol. 1 of "The Frontier
Forts of Pennsylvania," we read the following concerning this
preacher and soldier of the Pennsylvania frontier:
"At one time, it is stated. Rev. Steel was in charge of Fort
Allison, located just west of the town, near what afterward be-
came the site of McCaulay's Mill. At this time the congregation
had assembled in a barn . . . During this period, when Mr. Steel
entered the church and took his place back of the rude pulpit,
he hung his hat and rifle behind him, and this was done also by
many of his parishoners. On one occasion, while in the midst of
his discourse, some one stepped into the church quietly, and
called a number of the congregation out, and related the facts of
a murder of a family by the name of Walker by the Indians at
Rankin's Mill. The tragic story was soon whispered from one to
another. As soon as Mr. Steel discovered what had taken place,
he brought the services to a close, took his hat and rifle, and at
the head of the members of his congregation, went in pursuit of
the murderers."
The murder above mentioned, was probably that of William
Walker, in Silver Spring Township, Cumberland County, on
May 13th, 1757.
Capture of the Martin and Knox Families
Among the outrages committed by Shingas during the above
incursion into Fulton County, was as has been seen, the capture
of the family of John Martin, a settler in the Big Cove. On
Saturday morning, November 1, 1755, Mrs. Martin learned that
Indians were in the neighborhood, and, thereupon, sent her son,
Hugh, aged seventeen, to their neighbor, Captain Stewart, re-
questing him to come and take her family with his to the block-
house, as her husband, John Martin, had gone to Philadelphia for
supplies for the family, and had not returned. When Hugh came
in sight of his home on his way back from Captain Stewart's,
whose house was burned, he saw the Indians capture his mother;
his sister, Mary, aged nineteen; his sister, Martha, aged twelve;
his sister, Janet, aged two; his brother, James aged ten; and his
brother, William, aged eight. Hugh hid where a fallen tree lay
INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 225
on the bank of Cove Creek not far from the Martin house, which
the Indians now burned to the ground.
It has been said that there were some Tuscaroras among the
band that captured Mrs. Martin and her children. At least
such is the tradition among her descendants. It may be that
some of this tribe were among the hostile Delawares and Shawnees
in this incursion, as there is evidence that there were a few
Tuscaroras lingering in the Tuscarora or Path Valley as late as
1755, stragglers of the Tuscarora migration to New York. These
may have been influenced by the hostile Delawares and Shawnees.
After the Indians left, Hugh started toward Philadelphia to
meet his father. All that day he found nothing but desolation,
and in the evening, he came to a stable with some hay in it. Here
he lay until morning. During the night something jumped on
him, which proved to be a dog. In the morning he found some
fresh eggs in the stable, which he ate. When he was ready to
leave, a large colt came to the stable. Making a halter of rope,
he mounted the colt and rode on his way. In the afternoon, he
met some men who had gathered to pursue the Indians, among
them being the owner of the colt, who was much surprised to find
it so easily managed, as it was considered unruly. It is not known
when Hugh met his father, but, at any rate, they returned and
rebuilt the house.
Mrs, Martin and her children were taken to the Indian town
of Kittanning. A warrior wished to marry Mary, which made
the squaws jealous and they beat her dreadfully, so much so
that her health rapidly declined, and one morning she was found
on her knees dead in the wigwam. An Indian squaw claimed
little Janet, and tied her to a rope fastened to a post. While she
was thus confined, a French trader named Baubee came to the
child, and she reached out her arms and called him father. He
then took her in his arms, and the Indian woman who claimed her
sold her to the trader for a blanket, who carried her to Quebec
intending to adopt her. Later, Mrs. Martin was bought by the
French, and also taken to Quebec, not knowing her child was
there. Still later, Mrs. Martin bought her own freedom, and one
day she found little Janet on the streets of Quebec. Janet was
well dressed and had all appearances of being well cared for, but
did not recognize the mother. Mrs. Martin followed Janet to
the home of the French family who had her, identified her by
some mark, and the family reluctantly gave up the child to the
mother, who paid them what they had paid the Indians for her.
226 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Mrs. Martin then sailed with Janet to Liverpool, England,
from which place she took ship to Philadelphia, and joined her
husband.
The boys, James and William, and the daughter, Martha, were
taken to the Tuscarawas and Muskingum, in the state of Ohio.
After Mrs. Martin and Janet returned to their home in the Big
Cove, Mr. Martin, upon the close of the French and Indian War,
endeavored to recover his child from the Indians. Traveling on
horseback to the Ligonier Valley, he found an encampment of
Indians, and tried to make arrangements with them for the return
of his children, when they claimed to have raised his family and
wanted pay. Being unable to pay them, he said something about
not having employed them to raise his family; thereupon, they
became angry, and he made his escape as fast as he could, being
chased by two Indians on horseback to a point on the Allegheny
Mountain, where the sound of the bells of the Indian horses
ceased.
In the Penna. Archives (Vol. 4, page 100), is a petition of John
Martin, dated August 13th, 1762, presented to Governor James
Hamilton at the Lancaster Council of that month and year, in
which he says:
"I, one of the bereaved of my wife and five children, by savage
war, at the captivity at the Great Cove, after many and long
journeys, lately went to an Indian town, viz.^ Tuskoraways
[Tuscarawas, a Delaware and Wyandot village on the Tuscarawas
River just above the mouth of Big Sandy Creek, in Tuscarawas
County, Ohio] 150 miles beyond Fort Pitt, and entreated in
Colonel Bouquet's and Colonel Croghan's favour, so as to bear
their letters to King Beaver and Captain Shingas, desiring them
to give up one of my daughters to me, while I have yet two sons
and one other daughter, if alive, among them — and after seeing
my daughter with Shingas, he refused to give her up, and after
some expostulating with him, but all in vain, he promised to
deliver her up with the other captives, to your Excellency."
Many captives were delivered by King Beaver at the Lancaster
Council of August, 1762, but the Martin children were not
among them. These Martin children, James, William and
Martha, were finally liberated by Colonel Henry Bouquet when
he made his expedition to the Muskingum and Tuscarawas, in
the late autumn of 1764. He brought them to Pittsburgh. Here
Mr. Martin received them on November 28th, 1764, and then
INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 227
returned with them to his home, taking with him another
liberated captive, John McCuUough, who was captured in Frank-
lin County, on July 26th, 1756. (*See John McCullough's" Narra-
tive.") Martha could read when captured, but during her
captivity, she had forgotten this art. William and James, during
their captivity, assisted the squaws in raising vegetables, caring
for the children and old people, and grew up as Indians, in con-
trast to their brother, Hugh, who had escaped capture and be-
came a man of considerable influence on the Pennsylvania
frontier. Before being taken to the Muskingum, Martha,
James, and William spent some time with their Indian captors on
Big Sewickley Creek, in Westmoreland County. The boys be-
came attached to the locality, and after their return, they
patented two tracts of land in that vicinity, and lived there most
of their lives.
Janet Martin, in 1774, married John Jamison. She has many
descendants in Western Pennsylvania, especially in Westmore-
land County, among them being the well-known Robert S.
Jamison family, of Greensburg.
During the same incursion, occurred the capture of the Knox
family, who lived some distance from the Big Cove. On Sunday
morning, November 2nd, 1755, while the family were engaged in
morning worship, they were alarmed by the barking of their dogs.
Then, two men of their acquaintance, who had come to the Knox
home on Saturday evening for the purpose of attending religious
services the next day, went to the door. They were immediately
shot down by the Indians, and the rest of the family taken
prisoners. After the Indians returned to the town from where
they had come, no doubt Kittanning, each warrior who had lost
a brother in the incursion was given a prisoner to kill. As there
were not enough men to go around, little Jane Knox was given to
one of the warriors as his victim. Placing her at the root of a tree,
this savage commenced throwing his tomahawk close to her head,
exclaiming that his brother, who was killed, was a warrior, and
that the other Indians had given him only a squaw to kill. Jane
expected that every moment would be her last. Presently, an
Indian squaw came running and claimed Jane as her child, thus
saving her life. She later returned to the settlements, and be-
came the wife of Hugh Martin, mentioned above.
* While this is McCullough's statement, data in the possession of the descendants of
Janet Martin indicates that the Martin children were delivered by the Shawnees to George
Croghan, at Fort Pitt, early in May, 1765.
228 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Conclusion
In concluding this chapter on the bloody incursion of the Dela-
wares and Shawnees into the Scotch- Irish settlements in Fulton
and Franklin Counties, in the late autumn days of 1755, we call
attention to the fact that some historians have erroneously stated
that the massacres mentioned in Penna, Archives, Vol. 2, page
375, and Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 641 and 642, took place on
Pennsylvania soil, the former in the Great Cove and on the
Conolloways, in Fulton County, and the latter in the vicinity of
Patterson's Fort, in Juniata County. The former took place in
the vicinity of Cumberland, Maryland, shortly after General
Braddock's army left that place on its March against Fort
Duquesne. The latter took place, October 2nd, 1755, on Patter-
son's Creek, Maryland, a few miles from its mouth. The error
on page 600 of Vol. 1 of "The Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania"
in stating that this massacre of October 2nd took place near
Patterson's Fort, in Juniata County, no doubt is due to confusing
Patterson's Creek, in Maryland, with Patterson's Fort, in Juniata
County, Pennsylvania. As stated in Chapter VII, the Penn's
Creek massacre of October 16th, 1755, was the first massacre
committed by the Indians on Pennsylvania soil following Brad-
dock's defeat.
We also, at this point, call attention to the fact that Scotch-
Irish settlers entered Franklin County prior to 1730. In this
year, Benjamin and Joseph Chambers located at Falling Springs,
now Chambersburg, coming from the east side of the Susquehanna
above Harrisburg, and erecting a log house, a saw mill and grist
mill at Falling Springs. After Braddock's defeat, Benjamin
(Colonel) Chambers erected a large stone house at Falling Springs
for the security of his family and neighbors. It was surrounded
by water from the spring, the roof was of lead to prevent its being
set on fire by the Indians, and it was also stockaded. The
stockade also included the mill near the house. This fort was
known as Chambers' Fort.
About 1740, many Scotch Irish settlers, mostly from Mary-
land entered the Great Cove and the valleys of the Conol-
loways.
As was pointed out in Chapter IV, in connection with the
account of the Treaty of 1742, the Iroquois complained at this
treaty, through their spokesman, Canassatego, that Pennsyl-
vania was permitting squatters to remain on lands not purchased
INVASION OF THE COVES AND CONOLLOWAYS 229
irom the Six Nations — in the Juniata Valley, in the Great and
Little Coves, in the valleys of Big and Little Conolloways, in the
valley of Aughwick Creek, in Path Valley and Sherman's Valley.
But Pennsylvania made no really energetic effort to remove
these settlers until May, 1750, when, as was also pointed out in
Chapter IV, they were removed by Richard Peters, George Cro-
ghan, Conrad Weiser, James Galbraith and others by authority
of Lieutenant-Governor Morris. Many of their cabins were
burned on this occasion. But the restless spirit of these settlers
impelled them to return to their desolated homes, and with them
came others willing to risk the wrath of the Indians. Then came
the Albany Purchase of July 6th, 1754, by which the Iroquois
conveyed these lands to Pennsylvania — a purchase which mor-
tally offended the Delawares and Shawnees, who claimed that
the Six Nations, their conquerors, had guaranteed these lands to
them upon their migration from the Susquehanna. "Our lands
are sold from under our feet," said they. Later came Brad-
dock's defeat, which gave the Delawares and Shawnees an op-
portunity to wreak awful vengenance upon the Scotch-Irish
settlers within the bounds of the Albany Purchase.
CHAPTER IX
Massacres of November and
December, 1755
THIS chapter will be devoted principally to massacres east
of the Susquehanna in November and December, 1755, but,
before narrating their details, we shall devote a few paragraphs
to events that preceded them.
On November 3d, 1755, Governor Morris received John Arm-
strong's letter, quoted in Chapter VHI, advising him of the mur-
der of the settlers in the Great Cove. He immediately called
the attention of the Assembly to the acts of the hostile Indians
and the terror throughout the frontier, and asked that something
be done to put the Province in a state of defense. The Assembly
replied, on November 5th, that it "requires great Care and Judge-
ment in conducting our Indian Affairs at this critical Juncture,"
and requested the Governor to inform the House "if he knew of
any injury which the Delawares and Shawnees had received to
alienate their affections, and whether he knew the part taken by
the Six Nations in relation to this incursion."
Robert Strettell, Joseph Turner, and Thomas Cadwalader,
were appointed a committee to inspect all "minutes of Council
and other books and papers" relating to Pennsylvania's trans-
actions with the Delawares and Shawnees from the beginning of
the Colony. The committee made an elaborate report, which
was approved and sent to the House on November 22nd, setting
forth the findings of the committee that "the conduct of the
Proprietaries and this Government has been always uniformly
just, fair, and generous towards these Indians."
In the meantime, the Governor had informed the inhabitants
of the frontier counties from whom he received petitions for arms
and ammunition that, if they would organize themselves into com-
panies, he would give commissions to fit persons as officers. As
a result of his offer, companies were raised and officers commis-
sioned. Then, on November 8th, the Governor sent a message
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 231
to the Assembly in which he said: "You have now been sitting
six days, and instead of strengthening my Hands and providing
for the safety and defense of the people and Province in this
Time of imminent danger. You have sent me a message wherein
you talk of retaining the Affections of the Indians now em-
ployed in laying waste the Country and butchering the Inhabi-
tants, and of inquiring what injustice they have received, and
into the Causes of their falling from their alliance with us and
taking part with the French." In the same message, he informed
the Assembly that the Provincial Council had advised him to
visit the frontiers in order to superintend the work of organizing
the settlers for defense; that he had waited to see what the As-
sembly would do before his setting out, but now realizing that the
Assembly would do nothing, he proposed to start on his journey
at once. However, Conrad Weiser, Scarouady, Andrew Montour
and "drunken Zigrea," a Mohawk, arrived at Philadelphia that
very day (November 8th) for the councils presently to be men-
tioned, which caused the Governor to postpone his trip until
early in 1756. The cause of the lack of action to put the Province
in a state of defense at this terrible time was the endless discus-
sion, to be mentioned later in this chapter, between the Governor
and the Assembly as to whether the proprietary estates should
be taxed in raising money for defense. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6,
pages 676 to 681.)
Scarouady Threatens to Go to the French
While the terrible things related in Chapter VIII were hap-
pening, Scarouady was exerting his utmost influence on behalf of
the English. On November 1st, he and Andrew Montour came
from Shamokin to Harris' Ferry, where he delivered a message
to John Harris, who forwarded it to the Governor, advising,
among other things, that "about twelve days ago the Delawares
sent for Andrew Montour to go to Big Island [Lock Haven], on
which he [Scarouady] and Montour with three more Indians went
up immediately, and found there about six of the Delawares and
four Shawnees, who informed them that they had received a
hatchet from the French, on purpose to kill what game they could
meet with, and to be used against the English if they proved
saucy."
At this time (November 1st), Scarouady and Montour both
told John Harris that a fort should immediately be erected at
232 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Shamokin. "They said that our own Neglect had brought all
this upon us; That the Delawares being asked why they took up
the Hatchet, said the English had for some time called them
Frenchmen, and yet fell upon no measures to defend themselves,
whereupon they thought it not safe to stick by Us, and would now
publicly declare themselves Frenchmen. That Scarouady En-
quiring from George Croghan was answered by Mr. Buchannan
he was fortified at Aughwick, whereupon the Indian desired Mr.
Buchannan to give him speedy notice to remove, or he would
certainly be killed. They say Carlisle is Severly threatened, and
Adviseth that the Women and Children be removed." (Pa.
Archives, Vol. 2, page 452.)
On November 8th, Scarouady and Montour, accompanied by
Conrad Weiser, appeared before the Provincial Council, and,
gave additional details of their trip to Big Island. Scarouady
said that two Delawares from the Ohio appeared at the meeting
at Big Island and spoke as follows: "We the Delawares of Ohio,
do proclaim war against the English. We have been their friends
many years, but now have taken up the hatchet against them,
and will never make it up with them whilst there is an English
man alive.
"When Washington was defeated, we, the Delawares, were
blamed as the cause of it. We will now kill. We will not be
blamed without a cause. We make up three parties of Delawares.
One party will go against Carlisle; one down the Susquehanna;
and . . . another party will go against Tulpehocken to Conrad
Weiser. And we shall be followed by a thousand French and
Indians, Ottawas, Twigh twees, Shawnees, and Delawares."
It will be noted that the Delawares gave their being blamed
for Washington's defeat at the Great Meadows, in the summer of
1754, as the cause of their having taken up arms against Penn-
sylvania. Later they told the Shawnee chief, Paxinosa, of
Wyoming, that the cause of their hostility was the Walking Pur-
chase of 1737 and the Albany Purchase of 1754; and the great
Delaware chief, Teedyuscung, stoutly insisted that it was these
wrongs upon the Delawares that caused these friends of William
Penn to take up arms against the Colony he founded.
On the afternoon of the same day, November 8th, Scarouady
again appeared before the Governor, his Council, and the Provin-
cial Assembly, and told them of the journey which he had recently
made in the interest of the English, up the North Branch of the
Susquehanna "as far as the Nanticokes live." He stated that he
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 233
had told the Nanticokes and other Indians on the Susquehanna
that the defeat of General Braddock had brought about a great
turn of affairs; that it was a great blow, but that the English had
strength enough to recover from it. He further said that there
were three hundred friendly Indians on the Susquehanna. (Dela-
wares and Nanticokes) "who were all hearty in the English in-
terest." For these he desired the Colony's assistance with arms
and ammunition. He insisted that they should be given the
hatchet and that a fort should be built for the protection of their
old men, women, and children. They had told him, he said, that
whichever party, the French or English, would seek their assis-
tance first, would be first assisted; and that he "should go to
Philadelphia and apply immediately to the Government and ob-
tain explicit answer from them whether they would fight or no."
These Indians "waited with impatience to know the success of
his application."
Then the old chief threw down his belts of wampum upon the
table before the members of the Assembly and said: "I must
deal plainly with you, and tell you if you will not fight with us,
we will go somewhere else. We never can nor ever will put up the
affront. If we cannot be safe where we are, we will go somewhere
else for protection and take care of ourselves. We have no more
to say, but will first receive your answer to this, and as the times
are too dangerous to admit of our staying long here, we therefore
entreat you will use all the dispatch possible that we may not be
detained." It is possible that Scarouady meant that he and his
followers would go to one of the other colonies, but he was under-
stood as meaning that, unless the Pennsylvania Authorities acted
promptly, he and his followers would go over to the French.
Governor Morris then said to the Provincial Assembly: "You
have heard what the Indians have said. Without your aid, I can
not make a proper answer to what they now propose and expect
of us." The Assembly replied that, as Captain General, the
Governor had full authority to raise men, and that "the Bill now
in his hands granting Sixty Thousand Pounds will enable him to
pay the expenses." This was a bill just passed by the Assembly,
granting this sum for the defense of the Colony, to be raised by a
tax on estates. The Governor opposed the bill on the ground that
the Proprietary estates should not be taxed. He then explained
to Scarouady how his controversy with the Assembly stood, and
that he did not know what to do. Scarouady was amazed and
said that Pennsylvania's failure to comply with his (Scarouady's)
234 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
request in behalf of his three hundred friendly Indians would
mean their going over to the French. However, he still offered
his own services and counseled the Governor not to be cast down,
but to keep cool.
After long consultations between Scarouady and Conrad
Weiser, it was determined that Scarouady could render an im-
portant service to the Colony by visiting the Six Nations and Sir
William Johnson, and, after gaining what intelligence he could on
his way to New York, as to the actions of the Indians on the Sus-
quehanna, by laying before the Great Confederation such intelli-
gence as well as the recent conduct of the Delawares.
Scarouady's decided stand had a good effect on the Governor
and Council. On November 14th, the old chief and Andrew
Montour were sent by the Governor on a mission to the Six
Nations. They were instructed to convey the condolence of Penn-
sylvania to the Six Nations on the death of several of their
warriors who had joined General Shirley and General Johnson
and had fallen in battle with the French, and to advise the Six
Nations how the Delawares had, in a most cruel manner, fallen
upon and murdered so many of the inhabitants of Pennsylvania.
In a word, Scarouady was to give the Six Nations a complete
account of the terrible invasion of the Delawares and Shawnees
and to ascertain whether or not this invasion was made with the
knowledge, consent, or order of the Six Nations, and whether the
Six Nations would chastise the Delawares. (For account of
above conferences between Scarouady and the Governor, see Pa.
Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 682 to 689.)
Swatara and Tulpehocken Massacres
While Conrad Weiser, Scarouady and Andrew Montour were
holding their final councils with Governor Morris, on November
14th, the hostile Delawares, possibly accompanied by some
Shawnees, entered Berks County, the home of Weiser, and com-
mitted terrible atrocities upon the German settlers. On this day,
as six settlers were on their way to Dietrick Six's plantation, near
what is now the village of Millersburg, they were hred upon by a
party of Indians. Hurrying toward a watch-house, about half a
mile distant, they were ambushed before reaching the same, and
three of them killed and scalped. A settler named Ury, however,
succeeded in shooting one of the Indians through the heart, and
his body was dragged off by the other savages. The Indians then
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 235
divided into two parties. The one party, lying in ambush near
the watch-house, waylaid some settlers who were fleeing toward
that place, and killed three of them.
The next night some savages crept up to the home of Thomas
Bower, on Swatara Creek, and pushing their guns through a win-
dow of the house, killed a cobbler who was repairing a shoe. They
set fire to the house before being driven off. The Bower family,
having sought refuge through the night at the home of a neighbor,
named Daniel Snyder, and returning to their home in the morn-
ing, saw four savages running away and having with them the
scalps of three children, two of whom were still alive. They also
found the dead body of a woman with a two week's old child
under her body, but unharmed.
Such, in brief, is the account of the atrocities committed in
Berks County during the absence of Weiser at Philadelphia. It
is interesting to read his report of the same, written to Governor
Morris on November 19th, after arriving at his home in Heidel-
berg Township, as follows :
"On my return from Philadelphia, I met in the township of
Amity, in Berks County, the first news of our cruel enemy having
invaded the Country this Side of the Blue Mountains, to witt,
Bethel and Tulpenhacon [Tulpehocken]. I left the papers as they
were in the messengers Hands, and hastened to Reading, where
the alarm and confusion was very great. I was obliged to stay
that Night and part of the next Day, to witt, the 17th of this
Instant, and sat out for Heidelberg, where I arrived that Evening.
Soon after, my sons Philip and Frederick arrived from the Persuit
of the Indians, and gave me the following Relation, to witt, that
on Saturday last about 4 of the Clock, in the Afternoon, as some
men from Tulpenhacon were going to Dietrich Six's Place under
the Hill on Shamokin Road to be on the watch appointed there,
they were fired upon by the Indians but none hurt nor killed,
(Our people were but Six in number, the rest being behind.) Upon
which our people ran towards the Watch-house which was about
one-half mile off, and the Indians persued them, and killed and
scalped several of them. A bold, Stout Indian came up with one
Christopher Ury, who turned about and shot the Indian right
through his Breast. The Indian dropped down dead, but was
dragged out of the way by his own Companions. (He was found
next day and scalped by our People.)
' 'The Indians devided themselves into two Parties. Some came
this way to meet the Rest that was going to the Watch, and killed
236 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
some of them, so that six of our men were killed that Day, and a
few wounded.
"The Night following the Enemy attacked the House of Thos.
Bower, on Swatara Creek. They came to the House in the Dark
night, and one of them put his Fire-arm through the window and
shot a Shoemaker (that was at work) dead upon the spot. The
People being extremely Surprised at this Sudden attack, defended
themselves by firing out of the windows at the Indians. The
Fire alarmed a neighbor who came with two or three more men ;
they fired by the way and made a great noise, scared the Indians
away from Bower's House, after they had set fire to it, but by
Thomas Bower's Deligence and Conduct was timely put out
again. So Thos. Bower, with his Family, went off that night to
his neighbour, Daniel Schneider, who came to his assistance.
"By 8 of ye Clock, Parties came up from Tulpenhacon and
Heidelberg. The first Party saw four Indians running off. They
had some Prisoners whom they scalped immediately, three
children lay scalped yet alive, one died since, the other two are
likely to do well. Another Party found a woman just expired,
with a male Child on her side, both killed and scalped. The
woman lay upon her Face, my son Frederick turned her about to
see who she might have been and to his Companion's Surprize
they found a Babe of about 14 Days old under her, rapped up in
a little Cushion, his nose quite flat, which was set right by
Frederick, and life was yet in it, and recovered again. Our people
came up with two parties of Indians that Day, but they hardly
got sight of them, the Indians Ran off Immediately. Either our
party did not care to fight them if they could avoid it, or (which
is most likely) the Indians were too alarmed first by the loud
noise of our People coming, because no order was observed. Upon
the whole, there is about 15 killed of our People, Including men,
women and children, and the Enemy not beat but scared off.
Several Houses and Barns are Burned; I have not true account
how many. We are in a Dismal Situation, Some of this murder
has been committed in Tulpenhacon Township. The People left
their Plantation to within 6 or 7 miles from my house [located
near the present town of Wolmesdorf] against another attack,
"Guns and Ammunition is very much wanted here, my Sons
have been obliged to part with most of that, that was sent up
for the use of the Indians. I pray your Honour will be pleased,
if it lies in your Power, to send us up a quantity upon any Con-
dition. I must stand my Ground or my neighbours will all go
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 237
away, and leave their Habitations to be destroyed by the Enemy
or our own People.
"P. S. I am creditably informed just now that one Wolf, a
Single man, killed an Indian the same Time when Ury killed the
other but the Body is not found yet. The Poor Young Man since
died of his wound through his Belly." (Pa. Archives Vol. 2,
pages 503, 504.)
The following is a partial list of the slain :
A man named Beslinger, Sebastian Brosius, the wife and eight-
year-old child of a settler named Cola, Rudolph Candel, John
Leinberger, Casper Spring, a child of Jacob Wolf and a young man
also named Wolf.
Following the murders, the Rev. J. N. Kurtz conducted funeral
services for seven of the victims of the Indians' wrath who were
buried from his church, Christ Lutheran, near Stouchsburg, at
one time. The opening hymn at these solemn services was
Martin Luther's famous "Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott" (A
Mighty Fortress is Our God). Rev. Kurtz was pastor of the
Lutheran congregation at Tulpehocken to which Conrad Weiser
and many of his neighbors belonged.
At various other times during the French and Indian War, the
soil of Berks County was stained with the blood of the German
settlers. It is claimed that, during this conflict, almost one
hundred and fifty inhabitants of Bethel and Tulpehocken Town-
ships were slain, and more than thirty carried into captivity,
most of whom never returned.
Weiser and Scarouady in Danger from Settlers
Conrad Weiser, as has been seen, returned home from Philadel-
phia on November 17th, accompanied by Scarouady and Andrew
Montour on their way to the Six Nations. He found the Berks
County settlers in a state of great excitement, on account of the
Indian outrages. The settlers of Berks County knew that he had
frequently accompanied delegations of friendly Indians to Phila-
delphia. To many of the settlers whose homes and barns were
destroyed and whose dear ones were murdered or carried into
captivity, all Indians looked alike. Consequently, many of the
settlers were now suspicious of Weiser, and believed that he was
protecting Indians who did not deserve it. Consequently, also,
he had now great difficulty in conducting Scarouady and Montour
towards the Susquehanna. Said he, in another letter to Governor
238 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Morris on November 19th : "I made all the haste with the Indians
[Scarouady and Montour] I could, and gave them a letter to
Thomas McKee, to furnish them with necessaries for their
journey. Scarouady had no creature to ride on. I gave him one.
Before I could get done with the Indians, three or four men came
from Benjamin Spikers to warn the Indians not to go that way
for the people were so enraged against all the Indians and would
kill them without distinction. I went with them. So did the
gentlemen before named. When we came near Benjamin Spikers,
I saw about 400 or 500 men, and there was loud noise. I rode
before, and in riding along the road and armed men on both sides
of the road, I heard some say: 'Why must we be killed by the
Indians, and not kill them. Why are our hands so tied. ' I got
the Indians into the house with much ado, where I treated them
with a small dram, and so parted in love and friendship. Captain
Diefenback undertook to conduct them, with five of our men, to
the Susquehanna." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 504 to 506.)
Continuing the above letter, Weiser says:
"After this, a sort of a counsel of war was held by the ofificers
present, the before named, and other Freeholders.
"It was agreed that 150 men should be raised immediately to
serve as out scouts, and as Guards at Certain Places under the
Kittitany Hills for 40 days. That those so raised to have 2 Shill-
ings a Day and 2 Pounds of Bread, 2 Pounds of Beafif and a jill of
rum, and Powder and lead. Arms they must find themselves.
"This Scheme was signed by a good many Freeholders, and
read to the people. They cried out that so much for an Indian
scalp would they have, be they friends or enemies, from the Gov-
ernor. I told them I had no such power from the Governor nor
Assembly. They began some to curse the Governor; some the As-
sembly; called me a traitor of the country, who held with the In-
dians, and must have known this murder beforehand. I sat in
the house by a lowe window; some of my friends came to pull me
away from it, telling me some of the people threatened to shoot
me.
"I offered to go out to the people and either pasefy them or
make the King's Proclamation. But those in the house with me
would not let me go out. The cry was. The Land was betrayed
and sold. The common people from Lancaster [now Lebanon
County] were the worst. The wages they said was a Trifle and
some Body pocketed the Rest, and they would resent it. Some
Body had put it in their head that I had it in my power to give
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 239
them as much as I pleased. I was in danger of being shot to
death.
"In the meantime, a great smoke arose under Tulpenhacon
Mountain, with the news following that the Indians had com-
mitted a murder on Mill Creek (a false alarm) and set fire to a
barn; most of the people ran, and those that had horses rode off
without any order or regulation. I then took my horse and went
home, where I intend to stay and defend my own house as long as
I can. The people of Tulpenhacon all fled; till about 6 or 7 miles
from me some few remains. Another such attack will lay all the
country waste on the west side of Schuylkill,"
In a subsequent chapter will be found Scarouady's report of
his mission to the Six Nations. In the meantime, the Indians,
entering the passes of the Blue Mountains, committed many
murders and devastations in Berks, Lebanon, Northampton and
Carbon Counties. Independent companies were hastily organized
which later were incorporated into the Provincial Regiment.
Captain Thomas McKee ranged the territory along the Susque-
hanna; Colonel Conrad Weiser, Captain Adam Read, of Swatara
Creek and Captain Peter Heydrick, of Swatara Gap, ranged the
territory between the Susquehanna and Schuylkill Rivers; the two
Captains Wetterholt ranged the district along the Lehigh; and
Captains Wayne, Hays, Jenning, McLaughlin and Van Etten
ranged the territory between the Lehigh and Delaware. Never-
theless, the Indians crept stealthily upon the settlers, murdered
them in cold blood, often in the dead hours of the night, and then
disappeared before the alarm could be spread to the citizen
soldiers.
The Kobel Atrocity
On November 24th, 1755, Governor Morris received a letter
from Conrad Weiser in which he describes the attack on the
Kobel family, one of the atrocities committed by the Indians in
the invasion of Berks County, described in this chapter. The
letter, found in Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 511 and 512, is as
follows :
"I cannot forbear to acquaint your Honor of a certain Cir-
cumstance of the late unhappy Affair: One Kobel,
with his wife and eight children, the eldest about fourteen Years
and the youngest fourteen Days, was flying before the Enemy, he
carrying one, and his wife and a Boy another of the Children,
240 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
when they were fired upon by two Indians very nigh, but hit only
the Man upon his Breast, though not Dangerously. They, the
Indians, then came with their Tomahawks, knocked the woman
down, but not dead. They intended to kill the Man, but his Gun
(though out of order so that he could not fire) kept them off.
The Woman recovered so farr, and seated herself upon a Stump,
with her Babe in her Arms, and gave it Suck, and the Indians
driving the children together, and spoke to them in High Dutch,
'Be still; we won't hurt you.' Then they struck a Hatchet into
the woman's Head, and she fell upon her Face with her Babe
under her, and the Indian trod on her neck and tore off the scalp.
The children then run; four of them were scalped, among which
was a Girl of Eleven Years of Age, who related the whole Story;
of the Scalped, two are alive and like to do well. The Rest of the
Children ran into the Bushes and the Indians after them, but
our People coming near to them, and hallowed and made noise;
the Indians Ran, and the Rest of the Children were saved. They
ran within a Yard by a Woman that lay behind an Old Log, with
two Children; there was about Seven or Eight of the Enemy."
Other Atrocities of 1755
Other atrocities, committed in the autumn of 1755, were the
following:
Two brothers, named Ney, were ambushed by Indians, in the
Tulpehocken region, while gathering a load of fire wood for
winter. The one brother, Michael, was killed and scalped. The
other brother was tomahawked and left for dead, but afterwards
regained consciousness and made his way back home. Some
neighbors then went in pursuit of the Indians. They found the
body of Michael, but the Indians had fled.
As the Indian depredations spread eastward from Swatara
Gap, they reached the vicinity of the present town of Pine Grove.
Schuylkill County. Here George Everhart and his entire family
except his little daughter, Margaret, were killed. The little
girl was taken captive. She was released by Colonel Bouquet,
when he made his expedition to the Muskingum, in the autumn
of 1764, and returned to her friends. (H. M. M. Richards'
"Pennsylvania Germans in the French and Indian War," pages
79 to 81.)
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 241
Moravians Massacred
Scarouady was hardly started on his journey to the Six Nations
when the tomahawk and scalping knife of the Delawares became
stained anew with the blood of the settlers of Eastern Pennsyl-
vania. On November 24th, the Moravian missionaries at Gnaden-
huetten. Carbon County, were cruelly murdered by a band of
twelve warriors of the Munsee Clan of Delawares, led by Jachebus,
chief of the Assinnissink, a Munsee town in Steuben County,
New York. The bodies of the dead were placed in a grave. A
monument marks the spot where the dust of these victims of
savage cruelty reposes, a short distance from Lehighton, and bears
the following inscription :
"To the memory of Gottlieb and Joanna Anders, with their
child, Christiana; Martin and Susanna Nitschman; Anna Cath-
erine Senseman; John Gattermeyer; George Fabricius, clerk;
George Schweigert; John Frederick Lesly; and Martin Presser;
who lived here at Gnadenhuetten unto the Lord, and lost their
lives in a surprise from Indian warriors, November 24, 1755.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints."
Bishop Loskiel's "History of the Moravian Mission" thus
dej^cribes the massacre of the Moravians at Gnadenhuetten:
"The family were at supper; and on the report of a gun, several
ran together to open the house-door; the Indians instantly fired
and killed Martin Nitschman. His wife and some others were
wounded, but fled with the rest to the garret, and barricaded the
door. Two escaped by leaping out of a back window. The
savages pursued those who had taken refuge in the garret, but
finding the door too well secured, they set fire to the house, which
was soon in flames. A boy and a woman leaped from the burning
roof, and escaped almost miraculously. Br. Fabricius then leaped
off the roof, but he was perceived by the Indians, and wounded
with two balls; they dispatched him with their hatchets, and
took his scalp. The rest were all burnt alive, except Br. Sense-
man, who got out at the back door. The house being consumed,
the murderers set fire to the barns and stables, by which all the
corn, hay and cattle were destroyed."
The light of the burning buildings was seen at Bethlehem,
although nearly thirty miles distant and with the ridge of the
Blue Mountains between.
On the day of the massacre, the Moravian missionary, David
242 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Zeisberger, had been sent from Bethlehem to Gnadenhuetten,
bearing a letter relative to the convoy of some friendly Indians
at Wyoming who wished to visit the Governor. He had reached
the Lehigh River and was just ready to cross to the other side,
before it became quite dark, when he heard gun-shots, which he
supposed to be those of militia patroling the woods. Suddenly
a piteous cry floated on the evening air, but Zeisberger did not
hear it, as his horse was now wading the river and the splashing
water and the crack of the stones under his horse's hoofs prevented
his hearing anything else. Nor did he see the flames, as the thick
underbrush of the river bank and the bluff beyond concealed
their light from him. Having reached the west shore, he paused
a moment and took in the awful situation, just as young Joseph
Sturgis, who had escaped with a slight wound on his face, rushed
down to the river. Turning his horse, he crossed back to the
east side of the stream, where he found some Moravian Indians
in great terror. Gathering what particulars he could, he rode
through the night to Bethlehem, arriving there at three o'clock
in the morning and telling Bishop Spangenberg of the Moravian
Church the terrible story, (See Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages
736, 737.)
For some time prior to the massacre of the Moravian mission-
aries, these good people had been suspected of being in sympathy
with the French and their Indian allies — an altogether unjust
suspicion. Just prior to the outbreak of the war, unfriendly
Indians made frequent visits to the Delawares who had been
converted to the Christian religion by the Moravians, and made
efforts to win them to their cause. Some of the Christianized
Delawares yielded to the persuasion of the unfriendly Indians,
and, in time, were recognized among the marauders. Then the
cry went up that the Moravian missionaries were training the
Indians for the French service. Furthermore, the fact that the
missionaries spoke German, a language foreign to that of their
English and Scotch-Irish neighbors, tended to put them under
suspicion. But now that these missionaries fell victims to the
wrath of the Indians in league with the French, the eyes of their
traducers were opened. Even before the corpses of the murdered
Moravians were buried, it is said, many people came to the scene
of the massacre and shed tears of penitence.
In closing the account of this terrible atrocity, we call attention
to the fact that Susanna Nitschman, long believed to have been
killed at the time of the massacre of the other missionaries, was.
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 243
according to De Schweinitz's "Life of David Zeisberger," carried
to Tioga, where she was compelled to share the wigwam with a
brutal Indian and where, having lapsed into profound melancholy,
death came to her relief after a half year of captivity.
Attack on the Hoeth and Brodhead Families
On December 10th and 11th, 1755, occurred the attack on the
Hoeth and Brodhead families. The Frederick Hoeth family
lived on Poco-Poco Creek, afterwards known as Hoeth's Creek,
and now generally known as Big Creek, a tributary to the Lehigh
above Weissport. The Indians attacked the house on the evening
of the 10th, killing and capturing all the family except a son and
a smith, who made their escape. This son, John Michael Hoeth,
or Hute as he is called in the Pennsylvania Colonial Records,
made a deposition before William Parsons at Easton, on Decem-
ber 12th, as follows:
"The 12th Day of December, 1755, Personally appeared before
me, William Parsons, one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace
for the County of Northampton, Michael Hute, aged about 21
Years, who being duly sworn on the Holy Evangelists of Almighty
God did depose and declare that last Wednesday, about 6 of the
Clock, Afternoon, a Company of Indians, about 5 in number,
attacked the House of Frederick Hoeth, about 12 miles East-
ward from Gnadenhutten, on Pocho-Pocho Creek. That the
family being at Supper, the Indians shot into the House and
wounded a woman ; at the next shot they killed Frederick Hoeth
himself, and shot several times more, whereupon all ran out of
the house that could. The Indians immediately set fire to the
House, Mill and Stables. Hoeth's wife ran into the Bakehouse,
which was also set on fire. The poor woman ran out thro' the
Flames, and being very much burnt she ran into the water and
there dyed. The Indians cut her belly open, and used her other-
wise inhumanely. They killed and Scalped a Daughter, and he
[Hute] thinks that three other Children who were of the Family
were burnt. Three of Hoeth's Daughters are missing with an-
other Woman, who are supposed to be carried off. In the action
one Indian was killed and another wounded." (Pa. Col. Rec,
Vol. 6, pages 758, 759.)
Attention is called to the fact that Barbara Leininger and
Marie le Roy, in their Narrative, recorded in Pa. Archives, Sec.
Series, Vol. 7, pages 401 to 412, state that, at the time of their
244 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
escape from the Indians, March 16th, 1759, three sisters "from
the Blue Mountains, Mary, CaroUne and Catherine Hoeth," were
still in captivity among the Indians, but do not state whether at
Sauconk, Kuskuskies or Muskingum.
The Hoeth tragedy occurred in the vicinity of where Fort
Norris, about a mile southeast of Kresgeville, Monroe County,
was afterwards built. Other families in the vicinity of the Hoeths
— the Hartmans, the Culvers and the McMichaels — were at-
tacked by daylight the next morning. Many of their members
were killed and captured, and their buildings were burned.
Terror spread throughout the region upon the report that there
were two hundred Indians ravaging that part of the frontier.
Families fled to the Moravian stockades at Nazareth, North-
ampton County, and the infants of that place were taken to
Bethlehem for greater security. Among the fugitives who took
refuge among the Moravians at Nazareth were a poor German,
his wife and child, the latter only several days old. It was late
at night when he received word of the tragedy at Hoeth 's. Taking
his wife and child on his back, he fled for his life.
On the morning of December 1 1th, the Indians who committed
the atrocities at Hoeth's and in the vicinity, made an assault on
Brodhead's house, near the mouth of Brodhead Creek, not far
from where Stroudsburg, Monroe County, now stands. The
barracks and barn at Brodhead's were set on fire. Refugees
hastening to Easton heard firing and crying at Brodhead's
throughout the day. However, the Indians met such a deter-
mined resistance by the Brodhead family that they were finally
obliged to retire. All the members of this family were noted for
their bravery. Among the sons was the famous Colonel (later
General) Brodhead of the Revolutionary War, who no doubt
aided in the defense of his father's home. For account of the
outrages at Hoeth's and Brodhead's, the reader is referred to
Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 756 to 760.
Massacres Continue
The Indians continued their murders and depredations in
Monroe, Carbon and Northampton Counties throughout the
month of December and into the following January, as we shall
see in the next chapter. The following quotation from Pa. Col.
Rec, Vol. 6, page 767, briefly describes, under date of December
29th, their atrocities and devastation in this region in December:
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 245
"During all this month [December, 1755] the Indians have been
burning and destroying all before them in the County of North-
ampton, and have already burned fifty houses here, murdered
above one hundred persons, and are still continuing their Ravages,
Murders and Devastations, and have actually overrun and laid
waste a great part of that County, even as far as within twenty
miles of Easton, its chief Town. And a large Body of Indians,
under the Direction of French Officers, have fixed their head
Quarters within the Borders of that County for the better security
of their Prisoners and Plunder . . . All the settlements between
Shamokin and Hunter's Mill for a space of 50 Miles along the
River Susquehanna were deserted."
Continuing, the same account describes the horrors on the
Pennsylvania frontier at the time of which we are writing, as
follows :
"Such schocking descriptions are given by those who have
escaped of the horrid Cruelties and Indecencies committed by
these merciless Savages on the Bodies of the unhappy wretches
who fell into their Barbarous hands, especially the Women,
without regard to Sex or Age, as far exceeds those related of the
most abandoned Pirates; which has occasioned a general Conster-
nation and has struck so great a Pannick and Damp upon the
Spirits of the people that hitherto they have not been able to
make any considerable resistance or stand against the Indians."
One of the atrocities, committed in the Minisink region, in
December, 1755, was that described in the affidavit of Daniel
McMullen, found in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 282 and 283.
A party of five Delawares captured McMullen and a woman, and
at the same time, killed eight men in the neighborhood. Mc-
Mullen and the woman were taken to Tioga, where McMullen
was sold to a Mohawk, who treated him very kindly, and after-
wards sold him to the daughter of French Margaret, who was
the daughter of Madam Montour. Later French Margaret's
daughter went to see Colonel Johnson in order to ransom the
woman who was taken when McMullen was captured. While
French Margaret's daughter was absent on this journey, Mc-
Mullen made his escape, and he and Thomas Moffit, another
captive belonging to French Margaret's daughter, made their
way down the Susquehanna to Fort Augusta, in September, 1756.
In December, 1755, Nicholas Weiss was killed, near Fenners-
ville, Monroe County, and his family captured and taken to
Canada (Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," page 948.)
246 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
During November and December, 1755, as stated in a former
chapter, the Shawnee and Delaware town of Nescopeck at the
site of the present town of Nescopeck, in Luzerne County, was
the rallying point for the Indians who were devastating the
settlements and murdering the inhabitants. Many bloody ex-
peditions were sent out from this place until the building of Fort
Augusta, at Shamokin (Sunbury), in the summer and autumn of
1756, drove the hostile Indians away from Nescopeck. They
then went up the North Branch of the Susquehanna to the Dela-
ware town of Assarughney, located about two miles north of the
mouth of the Lackawanna, near the present town of Ransom, in
Luzerne County. At the time of the assembling of the hostile
Indians at Nescopeck, John Shikellamy, son of the great vice-
gerent of the Six Nations, moved away from that place to
Wyoming, near Plymouth, Luzerne County, where the friendly
Shawnee chief, Paxinosa, lived.
About the middle of December, some settlers at Paxtang
"took an enemy Indian on the other side of the Narrows above
Samuel Hunter's and brought him down to Carson's, where they
examining him, the Indian begged for his Life and promised to
tell all what he knew tomorrow morning, but (shocking to me)
they shot him in the midst of them, scalped him and threw his
Body into the River. The Old Belt told me that, as a child of
Onontio [the French], he deserved to be killed, but that he would
have been glad if they had delivered him up to the Governor in
order to be examined stricter and better." Thus wrote Conrad
Weiser to Governor Morris, on December 22nd.
Capture of Peter Williamson
Loudon's "Indian Narratives" contains an account of the
capture and subsequent experiences of Peter Williamson, who,
according to Loudon, was living near the "Forks of the Dela-
ware" in the terrible autumn of 1755. He was alone at midnight,
when the Indians came upon him, his wife being away visiting
relatives at the time. They made him prisoner, burned his
house, barn, cattle and 200 bushels of grain. Taking him with
them, they fell upon the Jacob Snyder family "at the Blue Hills
near the Susquehanna," killing the parents and their five chil-
dren, burning the house, and capturing the hired man, whom
they tortured to death after going some distance. The band
then lay hid near the Susquehanna for several days. They then
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 247
attacked the home of an old man, named John Adams, burning
the home and killing Mrs. Adams and her four small children
before the eyes of the horrified father. Taking Mr. Adams with
them, they went to the "Great Swamp," where they remained
eight or nine days, inflicting many cruelties on Mr. Adams in the
meantime. While at the "Great Swamp," twenty-five Indians
arrived one night from the Conococheague, with twenty scalps
and three prisoners. This second band had murdered John
Lewis, his wife and three small children, also Jacob Miller, his
wife and six children. The prisoners from the Conococheague
were tortured to death at the "Great Swamp." Peter Williamson
was then taken to the Indian town of Alamingo, where he re-
mained two or three months until the snow was gone. In the
spring, one hundred and fifty Indians left Alamingo, taking
Williamson with them, to attack the settlements along the base
of the Blue Mountains and along the Conococheague. Arriving
near the settlements, the Indians separated into small bands.
Williamson and ten Indians were left behind at a certain place to
await the return of the rest who went to kill and scalp the settlers.
Before the marauders returned, Williamson made his escape
from his ten Indian companions. For some time he hid in a
hollow log, and then made his way through the forest and over
the mountains to the home of his father-in-law, in Chester County
to receive the sad news that his wife had died two months before
his return.
Murder of William McMullin and James Watson
In Loudon's "Indian Narratives" is found the account of the
murder of William McMullin and his brother-in-law, James
Watson. This murder most likely occurred in November, 1755.
These men went from a block house between the Conodoguinet
Creek, in Cumberland County, and the Blue Mountains to their
home to look after things there. While in the barn, they were
attacked by Indians. They then started to flee to the block
house, and, as they were running through a buckwheat field,
other Indians hidden there, attacked them, and fatally wounded
McMullin, who crawled into a thicket, where he died and his
body was afterwards found. During this attack, Watson shot
four or five Indians in a running fight. Finally, while going up a
hill, he was shot, then tomahawked and scalped. When found,
his hands were full of an Indian's hair.
248 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Samuel Bell
In Loudon's "Indian Narratives" is also found the account of
the experiences of Samuel Bell, who, in the late autumn of 1755,
with his brother, James, left their home on Stony Ridge, five
miles below Carlisle, Cumberland County, to go into Sherman's
Valley, Perry County, to hunt deer. The brothers agreed to
meet at Croghan's (now Sterret's) Gap, in the Blue Mountains,
but for some reason they failed to meet. Samuel spent the night
in a deserted cabin on Sherman's Creek, belonging to a Mr.
Patton. In the morning he had not gone far before he saw three
Indians, who saw him at same time and each party fired at the
other. Samuel wounded one of the Indians and several bullets
passed through his own clothes. Each side took to trees. Samuel
took his tomahawk and stuck it into the tree, so that he might be
prepared if the Indians advanced. The tree was hit with several
bullets. After some time, the two Indians carried the wounded
one over the fence, and one ran one direction and the other an-
other, trying to get on both sides of the tree where Bell was.
Bell shot one of them dead and the other took the dead Indian
on his back with a leg over each shoulder. Bell ran after him and
fired a bullet through the dead Indian's body into the body of the
one who was carrying him. The Indian dropped the dead com-
panion and ran off. Bell then ran away, and found the first
Indian dead, and later the bodies of the three were found.
Hugh McSwane
Loudon also relates the account of the experiences of Hugh
McSwine (McSwane), who was captured by a band of Delawares,
led by the noted Delaware chief, Captain Jacobs, during one of
the incursions into the counties of Fulton, Franklin and Cumber-
land, in the autumn of 1755. McSwine was away from home at
the time when the Indians came into his neighborhood. He
followed them, and the place of his capture was at Tussey's
Narrows. There was with the Indians a man named Jackson,
who had joined them. Captain Jacobs left McSwine and another
prisoner under care of Jackson and another Indian, while the rest
went against other settlers. The Indian and Jackson, with two
prisoners, travelled all night, and then they entered a deserted
cabin and sent McSwine to cut rails to make a fire. McSwine took
his ax and killed the Indian and then tried to kill Jackson. They
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 249
had a desperate struggle. Both were v^ery strong. McSwine's
strength began to fail and he kept calling on the other white man
to assist, but he stood trembling. Finally McSwine got hold of
one of the guns and killed Jackson and scalped both him and the
Indian. The next evening McSwine arrived at Fort Cumberland
with Captain Jacobs' gun and horse, which had been left with
him. George Washington sent McSwine to Winchester where he
got paid for horse, gun, and scalps, and was made a lieutenant.
About this time the Cherokees came to help Pennsylvania.
They pursued a band of Indians to the west side of Sidling Hill
where they started back. Among the Cherokees was Hugh
McSwine. On their way back they fell in with another party of
Indians and had a battle with them. McSwine was parted from
the rest. He was pursued by three Indians. He turned and shot
one, and ran some distance and turned and shot another. Then
the third Indian turned back. The Cherokees soon after brought
14 scalps and two prisoners, one of whom was a squaw who had
been twelve times at war.
About the same time some Cherokees and white men scouted
in neighborhood of Fort Duquesne. Coming back the white men
were not able to keep up with the Indians and arrived home in
very distressing condition. Hugh McSwine later was killed by
the Indians, near Ligonier.
Such is Loudon's account. It may be that Hugh McSwane
was the same person mentioned by Adam Hoops in a letter written
from Conococheague to Governor Morris, on November 6th:
"I just now have received ye account of one George McSwane,
who was taken Captive about 14 Days ago, and has made his
escape, and has brought two Scalps and a Tomahawk with Him."
Assistance of Cherokees and Catawbas
Loudon, as has been seen, mentions the fact that the Cherokees
of the South helped the English to resist the bloody incursions of
the Delawares and Shawnees. In the latter part of 1755, Gover-
nor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, succeeded in persuading the Chero-
kees to declare war against the Shawnees. They then sent one
hundred and thirty of their warriors to protect the frontiers of
Virginia, and later sent many to assist Pennsylvania, especially
into the Cumberland Valley. The Cherokees occupied a very
dangerous position on the Pennsylvania frontier, especially
among the Scotch-Irish settlers of the Cumberland Valley, who,
250 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
on account of the terrible atrocities committed upon them, were
ready to shoot and scalp any Indian on sight. Colonel John
Armstrong, in a letter written to Governor Denny, from Carlisle,
on May 5th, 1757, and recorded in Pa. Col, Rec, Vol, 7, pages
503-505, mentions a case in point. The Catawbas also sent many
of their warriors to assist Pennsylvania, as will be seen later in
this history. While these Southern tribes were assisting the
English, the French were busy in efforts to persuade them to
join the Delawares and Shawnees in their incursions into the
English settlements.
Tom Quick
Frederick A, Godcharles, in his "Daily Stories of Pennsyl-
vania," gives an interesting account of the experiences of Tom
Quick, "the Indian killer," who is said to have declared on his
death bed, in 1795, that he had killed ninety-nine Indians, and
begged that an old Indian, who lived near, might be brought to
him in order that he might kill this old red man and thus bring
his record to an even hundred. Early in the French and Indian
War, no doubt in the autumn of 1755, Tom Quick's father, also
named Tom, was killed by the Delawares, in Pike County, in the
presence of the son and his brother-in-law. Young Tom was
wounded at the same time, and almost frantic with rage and
grief, he swore that he would never make peace with the Indians
as long as one remained on the banks of the Delaware, Some
years later, he met an Indian, named Muskwink, at Decker's
Tavern, on the Neversink, Muskwink, on this occasion, claimed
that it was he who scalped the elder Quick. Tom followed him
from the tavern about a mile, and then shot him dead. Some
time later, he espied an Indian family in a canoe on Butler's Rift.
Concealing himself in the tall grass, he shot the Indian warrior,
and then tomahawked his squaw and three children. He sank
the bodies, and destroyed the canoe. Upon being asked later
why he killed the children, he replied: "Nits make lice," On
another oc^i-asion, several Indians came to him while he was
splitting rails, and told him to go along with them. Quick asked
them to help him to split open the last log, and as they put their
fingers in the crack to help pull the log apart, Tom knocked out
the wedge, and thus caught them all. He then killed them. On
another occasion, he killed an Indian, while hunting with him,
by shooting him in the back. At another time he killed an In-
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 251
dian, while hunting with him, by pushing him off the high rocks
into the ravine below.
Egle, in his "History of Pennsylvania," says that Tom Quick
made a vow early in life to kill one hundred Indians; that he
took seriously ill before he had slain the hundred, and prayed
earnestly for life and health to carry out his "project;" that he
eventually recovered, and succeeded in bringing the number to
one hundred; whereupon he laid aside his rifle, and died soon
thereafter. He is buried on the banks of the Delaware, between
the towns of Milford and Shohola, Pike County.
Governor and Assembly Dispute as Settlers Die
Indeed, from the Penn's Creek massacre until well into the
year of 1756, terror reigned throughout the Pennsylvania settle-
ments. It is a sad fact, already referred to in this chapter, that,
while the Delawares and Shawnees were thus burning and
scalping on the frontier, the Assembly and Governor, instead of
putting the Province in a state of defense, spent their time in
disputes as to whether or not the Proprietary estates should be
taxed to raise money to defend the settlers against the hostile
Indians. Noted men on the frontier, such as Rev. John Elder,
pastor of the Presbyterian church at Paxtang, raised their voice
in protest against such action on the part of the Colonial Author-
ities. William Plumstead, Mayor of Philadelphia, and the
Aldermen and Common Council of that city remonstrated in the
most forceful language. The smoke of burning farm houses
darkened the heavens; the soil of the forest farms of the German
and Scotch-Irish settlers was drenched with their blood; the
tomahawk of the savage dashed out the brains of the aged and
the infant; hundreds were carried into captivity, many of whom
were tortured to death by fire at Kittanning and other Indian
towns in the valleys of the Allegheny and the Ohio to which they
were taken — all of these dreadful things were taking place as the
disputes between the Governor and the Assembly continued.
Says Egle, in his "History of Pennsylvania:" "The cold in-
difference of the Assembly at such a crisis awoke the deepest in-
dignation throughout the Province. Public meetings were held
in various parts of Lancaster and in the frontier counties, at
which it was resolved that they would repair to Philadelphia and
compel the Provincial authorities to pass proper laws to defend
the country and oppose the enemy. In addition, the dead bodies
252 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
of some of the murdered and mangled were sent to that city and
hauled about the streets, with placards announcing that these
were the victims of the Quaker policy of non-resistance. A large
and threatening mob surrounded the house of Assembly, placed
the dead bodies in the doorway, and demanded immediate relief
for the people of the frontiers. Such indeed were the desperate
measures resorted to for self defense."
Some of these dead bodies were those of the victims of the raids
of Shingas in October and November, described in Chapter VIII.
Finally, on November 26th, the very day that the news reached
Philadelphia of the slaughter of the Moravian missionaries at
Gnadenhuetten, "An Act For Granting 60,000 pounds to the
King's Use" was passed, after the Proprietaries had made a grant
of 5,000 pounds in lieu of the tax on the Proprietary estates,
Pennsylvania Begins Erection of Chain of Forts
Pennsylvania then began erecting a chain of forts and block-
houses to guard the frontier. These forts extended along the
Kittatinny or Blue Mountains from the Delaware River to the
Maryland line, and the cost of erection was eighty-five thousand
pounds. They guarded the important mountain passes, were gar-
risoned by from twenty-five to seventy-five men in pay of the
Province, and stood almost equi-distant, so as to be a haven of
refuge for the settlers when they fled from their farms to escape
the tomahawk and scalping knife. The Moravians at Bethlehem
cheerfully fortified their town and took up arms in self-defense.
Benjamin Franklin and James Hamilton were directed to go to
the Forks of the Delaware and raise troops in order to carry the
plan into execution. On December 29th, 1755, they arrived at
Easton, and appointed William Parsons major of the troops to be
raised in the county of Northampton. In the meantime. Captain
Hays had been ordered to New Gnadenhuetten, the scene of the
massacre of the Moravian missionaries on November 24th, with
his militia from the Irish settlement in the county. The attack
on these militia on New Year's Day, 1756, will be described in
Chapter X. Finally, the Assembly requested Franklin's ap-
pearance, and, responding to this call, he turned his command
over to Colonel William Clapham.
This chain of forts began with Fort Dupui, erected on the
property of the Hugenot settler, Samuel Dupui, in the present
town of Shawnee, on the Delaware River, in Monroe County.
MASSACRES OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1755 253
Next came Fort Hamilton, on the site of the present town of
Stroudsburg, in Monroe County. Fort Penn was also erected in
the eastern part of this town. These three forts were in the heart
of the territory of the Munsee Clan of Delawares. Next was Fort
Norris, about a mile southeast of Kresgeville, Monroe County;
and fifteen miles west was Fort Allen where Weissport, Carbon
County now stands. Then came Fort Franklin near Snydersville
Schuylkill County; and nineteen miles west was, Fort Lebanon,
also known as Fort William, not far from the present town of
Auburn, in Schuylkill County. Then came Fort Henry at Die-
trick Six's, near Millersburg, Berks County. This post is some-
times called "Busse's Fort" from its commanding olilicer, also the
"Fort at Dietrick Six's." Fort Lebanon and Fort Henry were
twenty-two miles apart, and midway between them was the small
post, Fort Northkill, near Strausstown, Berks County. Next
came Fort Swatara, located in the vicinity of Swatara Gap, or
Tolihaio Gap, Lebanon County; then Fort Manada at Manada
Gap, Dauphin County; then Fort Hunter, on the east bank of
the Susquehanna River at the mouth of Fishing Creek, six miles
north of Harrisburg; then Fort Halifax at the mouth of Arm-
strong Creek, half a mile above the present town of Halifax, on
the east bank of the Susquehanna, in Dauphin County; then
Fort Augusta at Sunbury, Northumberland County. While there
were numerous block-houses, these posts were the principal forts
east of the Susquehanna.
Crossing the Susquehanna, we find Fort Patterson in the
Tuscarora Valley at Mexico, Juniata County; Fort Granville,
near Lewistown, Mifflin County; Fort Shirley, at Shirleysburg,
Huntingdon County; Fort Lyttleton at Sugar Cabins, in the
northeastern part of Fulton County; Fort McDowell, where Mc-
Dowell's Mill, Franklin County, now stands; Fort Loudon,
about a mile distant from the town of Loudon, Franklin County;
Fort Morris at Shippensburg, Cumberland County; and Fort
Lowther, at Carlisle, Cumberland County. Like the forts east
of the Susquehanna, these forts were supplemented with block-
houses in the vicinity. The erection of the entire chain of forts
was completed in 1756.
To garrison these forts and intervening posts and for patroling
the neighborhood of each, a body of troops, called the "Pennsyl-
vania Regiment," was organized, of which the Governor was, ex-
ofificio, commander-in-chief. It was divided into three battalions.
The First Battalion, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Conrad
254 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Weiser, consisting of ten companies and five hundred men,
guarded the territory along the Blue or Kittatinny Mountains from
the Susquehanna to the Delaware. The Second Battalion, com-
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel John Armstrong, consisting of
eight companies and four hundred men, guarded the district
west of the Susquehanna, The Third Battalion, commanded by
Colonel William Clapham, consisting of eight companies and
four hundred men, guarded the region at and around Fort
Augusta. Because of its location, it was called the "Augusta
Regiment." Major James Burd was also in command of this
regiment for a time. The troops not only garrisoned the regular
forts, but were also located at stockaded mills and farm houses,
from three to twenty at a place, at the disposition of the captains
of the companies.
A final word as to the distinction between the various places
of defense and refuge. Reference is made in all chronicles deal-
ing with the border wars in Pennsylvania to "forts," "block-
houses" and "stations." Frequently the term "fort" is applied
as well to "block-houses" and "stations." A "fort," especially
the forts erected by the Colony of Pennsylvania, was a strong
place of defense and refuge, stockaded and embracing cabins
for the accommodation of the garrison and of families who sought
refuge there. A "station" was a parallelogram of cabins, so
united by palisades as to present a continued wall on the outer
side. A "block-house" was a strong, square, two-storied struc-
ture, having the upper story projecting over the lower about two
feet, so that the inmates could shoot from above upon the
Indians attempting to fire the building, to burst open the door
or to climb its walls. Many stations and block-houses were
erected by the harrassed settlers at their own expense and by
their own labors.
CHAPTER X
Massacres Early In 1756
GOVERNOR MORRIS spent the greater part of January,
1756, in visiting the frontiers for the purpose of seeing to
the erection of forts and block houses. He was at Reading on
January 5, and attended the Carhsle council of January 13th to
17th, to be described in Chapter XL Taking leave, very largely,
of the Governor, the Provincial Council and the Assembly for a
time, we shall devote the present chapter to the narration of
Indian atrocities in the early part of 1756.
Massacre of Soldiers at Gnadenhuetten
After the massacre of the Moravian missionaries at Gnaden-
huetten, now Weissport, Carbon County, on the evening of
November 24th, 1755, the surviving missionaries and the Chris-
tianized Delawares of that place hastened to Bethlehem, leaving
their effects and harvest behind. As stated in Chapter IX, the
hostile Indians spread devastation and death throughout that
region in the closing weeks of 1755, and a thorough and systematic
plan of defense was formulated. Benjamin Franklin and James
Hamilton, being selected to execute this plan, went to Easton,
and, on December 29th, after their arrival, appointed William
Parsons Major of the troops to be raised in Northampton County.
In the meantime. Captain Hayes had been ordered to lead his
company of troops from the Irish Settlement in Northampton
County to Gnadenhuetten to guard the mills of the Moravians,
which were filled with grain and had escaped the torch of the
Indians, to keep the property of the Christian Delawares from
being destroyed, and to protect the few settlers who still remained
in the neighborhood. Hayes stationed his troops in the forsaken
village and erected a temporary stockade.
Then, on January 1st, 1756, a number of the soldiers, due to
their lack of experience, fell victims to an Indian stratagem. While
amusing themselves by skating on the Lehigh River, not far from
256 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the stockade, they saw two Indians farther up the stream, and,
thinking to kill or capture them, gave chase while the Indians
ran further up the river. These two Indians were decoys, who
skillfully drew the soldiers into an ambush. After the soldiers
had pursued them for some distance, a large party of Indians
rushed out behind the troops, cut off their retreat, fell upon them
with great fury, and quickly dispatched them. Some of the
soldiers, remaining in the stockade, terrorized and horrified by
the murder of their companions, deserted, while the others,
despairing of defending the place, fled, leaving the mills, the
stockade and the houses of the Christian Indians to be burned to
ashes by the hostile Indians.
Massacres in Monroe County
Also, on January 1st, 1756, the Delaware chief, Teedyuscung
led a band of about thirty Indians into lower Smithfield Town-
ship, Monroe County, destroying the plantation of Henry Hess,
killing Nicholas Colman and a laborer named Gotlieb, and captur-
ing Peter Hess and young Henry Hess, son of Peter Hess and
nephew of Henry Hess, the owner of the plantation. This attack
took place about nine o'clock in the morning. Teedyuscung's
band then went over the Blue Mountains and overtook five In-
dians with two prisoners, Leonard and William Weeser, and a
little later killed Peter Hess in the presence of his son.
In a few days the Indians over-ran the country from Fort
Allen as far as Nazareth, burning plantations, and killing and
scalping settlers. During this same month, the Delawares entered
Moore Township, Northampton County, burning the buildings of
Christian Miller, Henry Shopp, Henry Diehl, Peter Doll, Nicholas
Scholl, and Nicholas Heil, and killing one of Heil's children and
John Bauman. The body of Bauman was found two weeks later,
and buried in the Moravian cemetery at Nazareth.
Young Henry Hess, one of the captives in this incursion, was
delivered up by the Indians at the Easton Conference of Novem-
ber, 1756, at which conference he made an affidavit, recorded in
Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 56, from which the following state-
ments are taken:
That, on January 1st, 1756, he was at the plantation of his
uncle, Henry Hess, in Lower Smithfield Township, and that his
father, Peter Hess, Nicholas Coleman and one, Gotlieb, a
laborer, were also there; that, about nine o'clock in the morning,
MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 257
they were surprised by a party of twenty-five Indians, let by
Teedyuscung, some of whom were then attending the Easton
Conference, namely, Peter Harrison, Samuel Evans, Christian,
and Tom Evans; that the Indian band killed Nicholas Coleman
and Gotlieb, took him and his father prisoners, set fire to the
stable, and then hunted up the horses and took three of them;
that the Indians then went over the second range of the Blue
Mountains, and overtook five other Indians with two prisoners,
Leonard and William Weeser; that a little later, they killed and
scalped his father, Peter Hess, in his presence; that the two bands,
now being united, stopped in the evening, kindled a fire, tied him
and the two Weesers to a tree with ropes, in which manner they
remained all night, although the night was extremely cold, the
coldest night of the year; that the next day he and the other
prisoners were taken to Wyoming, which they found deserted,
its Indian population having fled to the Delaware village of
Tunkhannock, the site of the present town of the same name, in
Wyoming County; that their captors then took them to Tunk-
hannock, where they found about one hundred and fifty Indians;
that after the severe weather abated, all the Indians left Tunk-
hannock, taking the prisoners with them, and went to Tioga, near
the present town of Athens, Bradford County; that, during his
stay with the Indians, small parties of five or six warriors, oc-
casionally went to war, and returned with scalps and captives,
which they said they had taken at Allemangle, in the northern
part of Berks County, and in the Minisink region; and that he
frequently heard his captors say that "all the country of Penn-
sylvania did belong to them, and the Governors were always
buying their lands from them but did not pay them for it."
Leonard Weeser, one of the captives taken in this incursion,
was also delivered up at the Easton Conference of November,
1756, at which conference he made the following affidavit, giving
the date of the beginning of the incursion as December 31st, 1 755 :
"This examinant says that on the 31st of Dec'r last, he was at
his father's House beyond the Mountains, in Smithfield Town-
ship, Northampton County, w'th his Father, his Bro'r William
and Hans Adam Hess; that Thirty Indians from Wyomink sur-
rounded them as they were at Work, killed his Father and Hans
Adam Hess and took this Examinant and his Brother William,
aged 17, Prisoners. The next day the same Indians went to
Peter Hess's, Father of the s'd Hans Adam Hess; they killed two
young men, one Nicholas Burman, ye others name he knew not,
258 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
and took Peter Hess and his elder son, Henry Hess, and went off
ye next morning at the great Swamp, distant about 30 miles from
Weeser's Plantation; they killed Peter Hess, sticking him with
their knives, as this Examinant was told by ye Indians, for he
was not present. Before they went off, they burned the Houses
and a Barrack of Wheat, killed all ye Cattle and Horses and Sheep
and destroyed all they could. Thro' ye Swamp they went directly
to Wyomink, where they stayed only two days and then went up
the river to Diahogo [Tioga], where they stayed till the Planting
Time, and from thence they went to little Passeeca, an Indian
Town up the Cayuge Branch, and there they stayed till they
brought him [Leonard Weeser] down. Among the Indians who
made this attack and took him Prisoner, were Teedyuscung, alias
Gideon, alias Honest John, and three of his Sons, Amos and
Jacob, ye other's name he knew not. Jacobus and his Son,
Samuel Evans and Thomas Evans were present; Daniel was
present, one Yacomb, a Delaware who used to live in his Father's
Neighborhood. They said that all the country was theirs and
they were never paid for it, and this they frequently gave as a
reason for their conduct. The King's [Teedyuscung] Son, Amos,
took him, this Examinant, and immediately gave him over to his
Father . . . This Examinant saw at Diahogo a Boy of Henry
Christmans, who lived near Fort Norris, and one Daniel William's
Wife and five children, Ben Feed's wife and three children; a
woman, ye wife of a Smith, who lived with Frederick Head, and
three children; a woman taken at Cushictunk, a boy of Hunt's
who lived in Jersey, near Canlin's Kiln and a Negro man; a boy
taken about four miles from Head's, called Nicholas Kainsein,
all of which were prisoners with the Indians at Diahogo and
Passeeca, and were taken by the Delaware Indians; that Teedy-
uscung did not go against the English after this Examinant was
taken, Tho' his Sons did." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 45.)
It will be noted that, in the above affidavit, Leonard Weeser
says that the Indians said "that all the country was theirs and
they were never paid for it, and this they frequently gave as a
reason for their conduct." The murders that these Delawares
committed were within the bounds of the "Walking Purchase."
In a subsequent chapter, we shall find the able Delaware chief,
Teedyuscung, of the Turtle Clan, boldly telling Governor Denny
at the Easton Conference of November, 1756, that the injustice
done the Delawares in this fraudulent land purchase was the
principal reason why they took up arms against the Province.
MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 259
Not only the atrocities we are now describing, but those at Hoeth's
and Brodheads, described in Chapter IX, were committed within
the bounds of the "Walking Purchase." It was natural that the
Delawares of the Munsee Clan headed for their own locality in
striking their blows against the Province.
The massacres of the first week in January filled the Province
with alarm and confusion. Governor Morris was discouraged, as
is shown in his letter written from Reading, on January 5th, to
the Provincial Council, recorded in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages
771 and 772:
"The Commissioners [Benjamin Franklin and James Hamilton]
have done everything that was proper in the County of North-
ampton, but the People are not satisfied, nor, by what I can learn
from the Commissioner, would they be unless every Man's House
was protected by a Fort and a Company of Soldiers, and them-
selves paid for staying at home and doing nothing. There are in
that County at this time three hundred Men in Pay of the Gov-
ernment, and yet from Disposition of the Inhabitants, the want
of Conduct in the Officers and of Courage and Discipline in the
Men, I am fearful that the whole Country will fall into the
Enemy's Hands.
"Yesterday and the day before I received the melancholy
News of the Destruction of the Town of Gnadenhuetten, and of
the greatest part of the Guard of forty Men placed there in order
to erect a Fort. The particulars you will see by the inclosed
Papers, so far as they are yet come to hand, but I am in hourly
Expectation of further Intelligence by two Men that I dispatched
for that Purpose upon the first News of the Afifair, whose long
stay makes me apprehend some mischief has befallen them.
"Last night an Express brought me an acco't that seven Farm
Houses between Gnadenhuetten and Nazareth were on the First
Instant burnt, about the time that Gnadenhuetten was, and some
of the People destroyed, and the accounts are this date confirmed.
"Upon this fresh alarm it is proposed that one of the Com-
missioners return to Bethlehem and Easton, and there give fresh
Directions to the Troops and post them in the best Manner for
the Protection of the remaining Inhabitants."
The commissioner, selected to "return to Bethlehem and
Easton, and there give fresh direction to the troops," was Ben-
jamin Franklin. This energetic and capable man at once went to
Bethlehem from which place he wrote Governor Morris, on
January 14th, telling him of the progress already made in raising
260 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
additional troops and bringing order out of chaos. He then went
to Gnadenhuetten, and superintended the erection of Fort Allen
at that place, the site of which is now occupied by the "Fort
Allen Hotel," at Weissport. He tells in his "Autobiography"
some of the details of erecting Fort Allen, as follows:
"Our first work was to bury more effectually the dead we found
there, who had been half interred by the country people; the next
morning our fort was planned and marked out, the circumference
measuring four hundred fifty-five feet, which would require as
many palisades to be made, one with another of a foot diameter
each. Each pine made three palisades of eighteen feet long,
pointed at one end. When they were set up, our carpenters made
a platform of boards all round within, about six feet high, for the
men to stand on when to fire through the loop holes. We had one
swivel gun, which we mounted on one of the angles, and fired it as
soon as fixed, to let the Indians know, if any were within hearing,
that we had such pieces; and thus our fort (if that name may be
given to so miserable a stockade) was finished in a week, though
it rained so hard every other day that the men could not well
work."
Franklin's letter to Governor Morris of January 25th, and his
official report of January 26th, give the details of the erecting of
Fort Allen. These are found in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 15
and 16. He named the fort in honor of Judge William Allen,
father of James Allen, who laid out Allentown in 1762, and was
Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania. Franklin, early
in 1756, also superintended the erection of Fort Franklin, in the
southeastern part of Schuylkill County, Fort Hamilton, where
the town of Stroudsburg, Monroe County, now stands. Fort
Hyndshaw, in Monroe County, about one mile from the Dela-
ware River and near the Pike County line, and Fort Norris, near
Kresgeville, Monroe County. Forts Hamilton and Hyndshaw
stood in the very heart of the Minisink region, occupied by the
Munsee or Wolf Clan of Delawares until their expulsion following
the fraudulent "Walking Purchase" of 1737.
In his official report, above mentioned, Franklin said that he
had 522 men under his command, divided into companies whose
heads were officers Trump, Aston, Wayne, Foulk, Trexler,
Wetterholt, Orndt, Craig, Martin, Van Etten, Hays, McLaughlin
and Parsons.
This bloody incursion caused the settlers to flee in terror from
their forest farms, and seek safety within the more thickly settled
MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 261
parts of the Province. As pointed out in Chapter IX, hundreds
fled to the Moravian settlement at Nazareth, where, in Decemebr,
1755, sentry boxes had been erected near the principal buildings,
and stockades near by, at Gnadenthal (Vale of Grace), Friedens-
thal (Vale of Peace), Christian's Spring and the Rose Inn. On
January 29th, 1756, according to the annals of the Moravians,
there were 253 fugitives at Nazareth, 52 at Gnadenthal, 48 at
Christian's Spring, 21 at the Rose Inn and 75 at Friedensthal.
Of these fugitives, 226 were children.
Other forts, stockades and block houses, not already mentioned,
erected at about the time the stockades at Nazareth were erected,
and a little later, were: Breitenbach's Block House, near Myers-
town, Lebanon County; Brown's Fort, in East Hanover Town-
ship, Dauphin County; Davis' Block House, in the south-western
part of Franklin County; Doll's Block House, in Moore Town-
ship, Northampton County; Fort Everett, near where the town
of Lynnport, Lehigh County, now stands; Harper's Block House,
in East Hanover Township, Lebanon County; Hess' Block House,
in Union Township, Lebanon County; the Fort or Block House at
Lehigh Gap, on the north side of the Blue Mountains, in Carbon
County, and, a little later, the stockade at Trucker's (Kern's)
mill, three or four miles south of Lehigh Gap and in Lehigh
County; Fort McCord, in Hamilton Township, Franklin County;
Bingham's Fort, in Tuscarora Township, Juniata County; Mc-
Kee's Fort, on the east shore of the Susquehanna, in the southern
part of Northumberland County; Ralston's Fort, in the Irish
Settlement in Northampton County, about five miles northwest
of Bethlehem; Read's Block House, the stockaded residence of
Adam Read, on Swatara Creek, in East Hanover Township,
Lebanon County; Robinson's or Robeson's Fort, a stockaded
mill, in East Hanover Township, Dauphin County; Robinson's
Fort, or Block House, in Sherman's Valley, Perry County;
Dietrich Snyder's Stockade, erected around his residence, in Berks
County, on the road leading from the vicinity of Fort Northkill,
near Strausstown, over the Blue Mountains to Pottsville, Schuyl-
kill County; Benjamin Spycker's (Spiker) Stockade, around his
residence in Jackson Township, Lebanon County, not far from
the Berks County line and not far from Stouchsburg, Berks
County, at which fortified house the German farmers, under
Conrad Weiser, rendezvoused, in the latter part of October, 1755,
as described in Chapter VII; Ulrich's Fort, near Annville,
Lebanon County, being a mural dungeon or vault built into the
262 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
hillside, with an air hole walled out and closed by a large stone on
which was the inscription, "So oft die Dier den Ankel went. An
deinen Tod, O Mensch, gedenk" (As oft as this door on its hinge
doth swing. To thee, O Man, thought of death may it bring);
Wind Gap Fort, near Wind Gap, Northampton County; and
Zeller's Block House, near Newmanstown, in the south-eastern
part of Lebanon County.
Teedyuscung
We shall meet Teedyuscung again in the course of this history,
not as a bloody warrior, but as an advocate of peace between the
Eastern Delawares and the Province; but, inasmuch as he was
the leader of the incursion of January 1st, just described, we
deem it appropriate to give a short sketch, at this point, of his
life up to the time of which we are writing. He was the son of
the Delaware chief, John Harris, of the Turtle Clan, and was born
at Trenton, New Jersey, about 1705. The early part of his life
is clouded in obscurity; but, when he was about fifty years of age,
he was chosen chief of the Delawares on the Susquehanna, and
from that time until his tragic death on April 16th, 1763, he was
one of the chief figures in the Indian history of Pennsylvania.
He came under the influence of the Moravian missionaries, and
was baptized by them as Brother Gideon. Honest John was also
a name applied to him by the Moravians and others. Later he
became an apostate, and endeavored to induce the Christian
Delawares of Gnadenhuetten to remove to Wyoming, actually
succeeding in gaining a party of seventy of the converts, who left
Gnadenhuetten, April 24th, 1754, and took up their abode at
Wyoming.
In April, 1755, he attended a conference with the Provincial
Authorities at Philadelphia, assuring them of his friendship for
the English. At that time, he was living at Wyoming. His
friendship for the English and Pennsylvania did not continue long
after the conference of April, 1755. When the Delawares and
Shawnees took up arms against Pennsylvania following Brad-
dock's defeat, Teedyuscung, at Nescopeck with Shingas and
other leaders of the hostile Indians, planned many a bloody ex-
pedition against the frontiers of Eastern Pennsylvania.
In March, 1756, he and the Delawares under him left the town
of Wyoming and removed to Tioga (now Athens, Bradford
County), followed at about the same time by the Shawnees from
MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 263
their town where Plymouth, Luzerne County, now stands, under
the leadership of Paxinosa. After the death of Shikellamy, in
1748, some of the Shamokin Delawares had settled at Tioga, and
upon Teedyuscung's removal to that place, they and the Dela-
wares of the Munsee Clan chose him "King of the Delawares."
He was at that time busily engaged in forming an alliance be-
tween the three clans of Delawares and the Shawnees, Nanticokes,
and Mohicans of northeastern Pennsylvania.
Massacre Near Schupp's Mill
On January 15th, some refugees at Bethlehem went out into
the country to look after their farms and cattle, among them being
Christian Boemper. The party and some friendly Indians who
escorted them, were ambushed by hostile Delawares near Schupps
Mill, and all were killed except one named Adam Hold, who was
so severely wounded that it was necessary later to amputate his
arm. Those killed were Christian Boemper, Felty Hold, Michael
Hold, Laurence Knuckel, and four privates of Captain Trump's
Company then stationed at Fort Hamilton (Stroudsburg).
At about the same time, a German, named Muhlhisen while
breaking flax on the farm of Philip Bossert, in Lower Smithfield
Township, Monroe County, was fatally wounded by an unseen
Indian. One of Bossert's sons, hearing the report of the Indian's
rifle, ran out of the house and was killed. Then old Philip Bos-
sert, the owner of the farm, appeared on the scene, wounded one
of the Indians, and was himself wounded badly. Neighbors then
arrived upon the scene, and the Indians retreated. ("Frontier
Forts of Penna.," Vol. 1, pages 200-201.)
Massacres in Juniata and Perry Counties
On January 27th, a band of Delawares from the Susquehanna,
attacked the home of Hugh Mitchelltree, near Thompsontown,
Juniata County, killing Mrs. Mitchelltree and a young man,
named Edward Nicholas, Mr. Mitchelltree being then absent at
Carlisle. The same band then went up the Juniata River.
William Wilcox at that time lived on the opposite side of the
river, whose wife and eldest son had come over the river on some
business. The Indians came while they were there and killed old
Edward Nicholas and his wife and took Joseph Nicholas, Thomas
Nicholas, Catherine Nicholas, John Wilcox and Mrs. James Arm-
264 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
strong and two children prisoners. An Indian named James
Cotties and an Indian boy went to Sherman's Creek, Perry
County, and killed William Sheridan and his family, 13 in num-
ber. They then went down the creek to where three old persons
lived, two men and a woman by the name of French whom they
killed. Cotties afterward boasted that the boy took more scalps
than the whole party.
The above is the account of this massacre, found in Loudon's
"Indian Narratives." In Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 566, is found
the following letter of Governor Morris, dated February 3d,
relative to this massacre:
"I have just received the melancholy intelligence from Cum-
berland County that a fresh party of Indians are again fallen
upon ye settlements, on Juniata, and have carry'd off several of
ye people there to ye number of 15 or upwards."
Also, on page 568 of the same volume of the Pennsylvania
Archives, is found the letter of Rev. Thomas Barton, dated
February 6th, referring to this massacre, as follows:
"Within three miles of Patterson's Fort was found Adam
Nicholson and his wife, dead and scalped; his two sons and a
Daughter are carried off, Hugh Mitchelltree and a son of said
Nicholson, dead and scalped, with many children, in all about 17.
The same Day, one Sherridan, a Quaker, his wife, three children
and a Servant were kill'd and scalped, together with one, Wm.
Hamilton and his Wife, his Daughter and one, French, within
ten miles of Carlisle, a little beyond Stephen's Gap.
"It is dismal. Sir, to see the Distress of the People; women and
Children screaming and lamenting, men's hearts failing them for
Fear under all the Anguish of Despair. The Inhabitants over the
Hills are entirely fleeing, so that in two or three Days the North
Mountain will be the Frontier. Industry droops, and all Sorts
of Work seem at an End. In short. Sir, it appears as if this Part
of the Country breath'd its last. I remember you dreaded this
blow would be struck in February; and now we know that our
Danger hastens with the Encrease of the Moon, and we expect
nothing but Death and Ruin every night."
Mrs. James Armstrong later escaped, and waded across the
Susquehanna to Fort Augusta, June 26th, 1757, where her
husband was then a soldier. On April 12th, 1759, the Iroquois
delivered up one of the children, Elizabeth Armstrong, at
Canajoharie, New York. She had been given to them by the
Delawares, and was then only four years old.
MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 265
Loudon relates of the Indian, James Cotties, that in the
autumn of 1757, he went to Fort Hunter, and killed a young man,
named William Martin, while gathering chestnuts; also, that
after the French and Indian War, he came to Fort Hunter and
boasted what a good friend he had been to the white people dur-
ing the war, whereupon a friendly Delaware, named Hambus,
accused him of having killed young Martin, and the two Indians
began to fight. A little later in the day, Cotties got drunk and
fell asleep near the fort, whereupon Hambus slipped up and
killed him with his tomahawk.
During the incursion of January 27th, occurred the murder of
the Woolcomber family, Quakers, on Sherman's Creek, Perry
County, thus described in Loudon's "Indian Narratives," as if it
took place in the latter part of 1755:
"The next I remember of was in 1755, the Woolcombers family
on Shearman's Creek; the whole of the inhabitants of the valley
was gathered at Robinson's, but Woolcomber would not leave
home, he said it was the Irish [Scotch-Irish] who were killing one
another; these peaceable people, the Indians would not hurt any
person. Being at home and at dinner, the Indians came in, and
the Quaker asked them to come and eat dinner; an Indian an-
nounced that he did not come to eat, but for scalps; the son, a
boy of fourteen or fifteen years of age when he heard the Indian
say so, repaired to a back door, and as he went out he looked back,
and saw the Indian strike the tomahawk into his father's head.
The boy then ran over the creek, which was near the house, and
heard the screams of his mother, sisters and brother. The boy
came to our Fort [Robinson] and gave us the alarm; about forty
went to where the murder was done and buried the dead."
A few days after the massacre of January 27th, some Indians,
probably members of this same band, had a skirmish with
thirteen soldiers from Croghan's Fort, at Aughwick, within a
short distance of the fort. One of the soldiers was wounded, and
two of the Indians were killed, on this occasion. (Pa. Archives,
Vol. 2, page 571.)
Two months later, or on March 29th, 1756, the Indians again
came to the neighborhood where the murders of January 27th
were committed. They attacked Patterson's Fort, and, accord-
ing to a letter written by Captain Patterson to his wife, they
carried ofT Hugh Mitchelltree, about five o'clock in the evening,
while foddering his cattle within sight of the fort. Evidently,
then, Rev. Thomas Barton was mistaken in his letter, quoted
266 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
above, in saying that Hugh Mitchelltree was killed in the massa-
cre of January 27th. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 613.)
On March 24th, Captain William Patterson with a scouting
party had an encounter with a party of Delawares on Middle
Creek, in what is now Snyder County, killing and scalping one
and routing the rest. On his return to his fort, he reported that
the country from the forks of the Susquehanna (Sunbury) to
the Juniata was "swarming with Indians, looking for scalps and
plunder, and burning all the houses and destroying all the grain
which the fugitive settlers had left in the region." ("Frontier
Forts of Penna.," Vol. 1, pages 594-595.)
Patterson's Fort near which some of the murders of January
27th, were committed, was the fortified residence of Captain
James Patterson, situated where the town of Mexico, Juniata
County, now stands. The residence was fortified before the close
of 1755. Captain James Patterson was the father of Captain
William Patterson. The son lived opposite Mexico, and had a
fortified residence, also called Fort Patterson, but it seems that
the son's fort was not erected until the time of Pontiac's War.
There has been much confusion as to these two forts. By in-
structions given by Benjamin Franklin to George Croghan, on
December 17th, 1755, the latter was to "fix on proper places for
erecting three stockades, one back of Patterson's." This stockade
"back of Patterson's" was to be called Pomfret Castle, and was
to be erected on Mahantango Creek, near Richfield, Juniata
County, but within the limits of Snyder County. Many his-
torians doubt whether Pomfret Castle was ever erected. Gov-
ernor Morris wrote on January 29th, 1756, saying it was erected.
Then, hearing of the massacre of January 27th, he wrote to
Captain Burd, on February 3d, reprimanding him and Captain
Patterson for being remiss in not having erected the fort that was
"order'd to be built at Matchitongo." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2,
pages 556 and 566.)
Capture of John and Richard Coxe and John Craig
On February 11th, 1756, occurred the capture of John Coxe, his
brother Richard, and John Craig, thus described in the "Frontier
Forts of Pennsylvania":
"At a council, held at Philadelphia, Tuesday, September 6th,
1756, the statement of John Coxe, a son of the widow Coxe, was
made, the substance of which is: He, his brother Richard, and
MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 267
John Craig were taken in the beginning of February of that year
by nine Delaware Indians from a plantation two miles from Mc-
Dowell's mill, [Franklin County], which was between the east and
west branches of the Conococheague Creek, about 20 miles west
of the present site of Shippensburg, in what is now Cumberland
County, and brought to Kittanning on the Ohio. On his way
hither he met Shingas with a party of 30 men, and afterward
Capt. Jacobs and 15 men, whose design was to destroy the settle-
ments on Conococheague. When he arrived at Kittanning, he
saw here about 100 fighting men of the Delaware tribe, with their
families, and about 50 English prisoners, consisting of men,
women and children. During his stay here, Shingas' and Jacobs'
parties returned, the one with nine scalps and ten prisoners, the
other with several scalps and five prisoners. Another company
of 18 came from Diahogo with 17 scalps on a pole, which they took
to Fort Duquesne to obtain their reward. The warriors held a
council, which, with their war dances, continued a week, when
Capt. Jacobs left with 48 men, intending as Coxe was told, to fall
upon the inhabitants at Paxtang. He heard the Indians fre-
quently say that they intended to kill all the white folks, except a
few, with whom they would afterwards make peace. They made
an example of Paul Broadley, who, with their usual cruelty, they
beat for half an hour with clubs and tomahawks, and then,
having fastened him to a post, cropped his ears close to his head,
and chopped off his fingers, calling all the prisoners to witness
the horrible scene."
Additional details of the incursion which the Coxe boys and
John Craig were captured are given in Egle's "History of Penn-
sylvania," as follows:
"In February, 1756, a party of Indians made marauding in-
cursions into Peters Township. They were discovered on Sunday
evening, by one Alexander, near the house of Thomas Barr. He
was pursued by the savages, but escaped and alarmed the fort at
McDowell's mill. Early on Monday morning a party of fourteen
men of Captain Croghan's company, who were at the mill, and
about twelve other young men, set off to watch the motion of the
Indians. Near Barr's house they fell in with fifty, and sent back
for a reinforcement from the fort. The young lads proceeded by
a circuit to take the enemy in the rear, whilst the soldiers did
attack them in front. But the impetuosity of the soldiers defeated
their plan. Scarce had they got within gunshot, they fired upon
the Indians, who were standing around the fire, and killed several
268 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
of them at the first discharge. The Indians returned fire, killed
one of the soldiers, and compelled the rest to retreat. The party
of young men, hearing the report of firearms, hastened up, finding
the Indians on the ground which the soldiers had occupied, fired
upon the Indians with effect; but concluding the soldiers had fled,
or were slain, they also retreated. One of their number, Barr's
son, was wounded, would have fallen by the tomahawk of an
Indian, had not the savage been killed by a shot from Armstrong,
who saw him running upon the lad. Soon after soldiers and young
men being joined by a reinforcement from the mill, again sought
the enemy, who, eluding the pursuit, crossed the creek near
William Clark's, and attempted to surprise the fort; but their
design was discovered by two Dutch lads, coming from foddering
their master's cattle. One of the lads was killed, but the other
reached the fort, which was immediately surrounded by the In-
dians, who, from a thicket, fired many shots at the men in the
garrison, who appeared above the wall, and returned the fire as
often as they obtained sight of the enemy. At this time, two men
crossing to the mill, fell into the middle of the assailants, but
made their escape to the fort, though fired at three times. The
party at Barr's house now came up, and drove the Indians through
the thicket. In their retreat they met five men from Mr. Hoop's,
riding to the mill; they killed one of these and wounded another
severely. The sergeant at the fort having lost two of his men,
declined to follow the enemy until his commander, Mr. Crawford,
who was at Hoop's, should return, and the snow falling thick, the
Indians had time to burn Mr. Barr's house, and in it consumed
their dead. On the morning of the 2nd of March, Mr. Crawford,
with fifty men, went in quest of the enemy, but was unsuccessful
in his search."
John Coxe further said in his statement, which is found in Pa.
Col. Rec. Vol. 7, pages 242 and 243, that in March following his
capture, he was taken by three Indians to Tioga, where he found
about fifty warriors of the Delawares and Mohicans, and about
twenty German captives; that, while he was there, the Indians
frequently went out in parties of twelve to murder the settlers
and as often returned with scalps but no prisoners; that, on the
9th of August, he left Tioga with his Indian master, Makomsey,
and came down the Susquehanna to the Indian town of Gnahay,
whose location is unknown, to get some corn; and that he here
made his escape, on August 14th, and arrived at Fort Augusta
(Sunbury) that evening.
MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 269
The following letter, written by Captain William Trent, at
Carlisle, on Sunday evening, February 15th, 1756, and sent to
Richard Peters, fixes the date of the capture of the Coxe boys and
John Craig, and shows how Shingas and Captain Jacobs were
keeping the settlers in a state of terror :
"Wednesday evening two lads were taken or killed at the
Widow Cox's, just under Parnell's Knob, and a lad who went
from McDowell's Mill to see what fire it was never returned, the
horse coming back with the Reins over his Neck; they burnt the
House and shot down the Cattle. Just now came News that a
Party of Indian Warriors were come out against the Inhabitants
from some of the Susquehanna Towns, and yesterday some people
who were over in Sherman's Valley, discovered fresh Tracks; all
the People have left their Houses betwixt this and the Mountain,
some coming to town [Carlisle] and others gathering into little
Forts; they are moving their Effects from Shippensburg, every
one thinks of flying; unless the Government fall upon some
Method, and that immediately, of securing the Frontiers, there
will not be one Inhabitant in this Valley one Month longer." (Pa.
Archives, Vol. 2, page 575.)
Murder of Frederick Reichelsdorfer's Daughters
"The Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania" contains the following
account of one of the saddest tragedies of the terrible winter of
which we are writing, the date of the atrocity being February
14th, 1756:
"The Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, D. D., in the Hall-
ische Nachrichten, tells the soul-stirring story of Frederick Reich-
elsdorfer, whose two grown daughters had attended a course of
instruction, under him, in the Catechism, and been solemnly ad-
mitted by confirmation to the communion of the Ev. Lutheran
Church, in New Hanover, Montgomery County.
"This man afterwards went with his family some distance into
the interior, to a tract of land which he had purchased in Albany
Township, Berks County. When the war with the Indians broke
out, he removed his family to his former residence, and occasion-
ally returned to his farm, to attend to his grain and cattle. On
one occasion he went, accompanied by his two daughters, to
spend a few days there, and bring away some wheat. On Friday
evening, after the wagon had been loaded, and everything was
ready for their return on the morrow, his daughters complained
270 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
that they felt anxious and dejected, and were impressed with the
idea that they were soon to die. They requested their father to
unite with them in singing the famiHar German funeral hymn,
'Wer weiss wie nahe meine Ende. '
[Who knows how near my end may be. ]
after which they commended themselves to God in prayer, and
retired to rest.
"The light of the succeeding morn beamed upon them, and all
was yet well. Whilst the daughters were attending to the dairy,
cheered with the joyful hope of soon greeting their friends, and
being out of danger, the father went to the field for the horses, to
prepare for their departure home. As he was passing through the
field, he suddenly saw two Indians, armed with rifles, tomahawks
and scalping knives, making towards him at full speed. The sight
so terrified him that he lost all self command, and stood motion-
less and silent. When they were about twenty yards from him,
he suddenly and with all his strength, exclaimed 'Lord Jesus,
living and dying, I am thine!' Scarcely had the Indians heard
the words 'Lord Jesus' (which they probably knew as the white
man's name of the Great Spirit), when they stopped short, and
uttered a hideous yell.
"The man ran with almost supernatural strength into the
dense forest, and by taking a serpentine course, the Indians lost
sight of him, and relinquished the pursuit. He hastened to an
adjoining farm, where two German families resided, for assistance,
but on approaching near it, he heard the dying groans of the
families, who were falling beneath the murderous tomahawks of
some other Indians.
[One of these families was the family of Jacob Gerhart. One
man, two women and six children were murdered. Two children
hid under the bed, one of which was burned to death, and the
other escaped and ran a mile for help. ("Frontier Forts of Penn-
sylvania," Vol. 1, pages 152 and 153.) ]
"Having providentially not been observed by them, he has-
tened back to learn the fate of his daughters. But, alas! on ar-
riving within sight, he found his home and barn enveloped with
flames. Finding that the Indians had possession here too, he
hastened to another adjoining farm for help. Returning, armed
with several men, he found the house reduced to ashes and the
Indians gone. His eldest daughter had been almost entirely burnt
up, a few remains only of her body being found. And, awful to
relate, the younger daughter though the scalp had been cut from
MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 271
her head, and her body horribly mangled from head to foot with
the tomahawk, was yet living. 'The poor worm,' says Muhlen-
berg, 'was able to state all the circumstances of the dreadful
scene.' After having done so she requested her father to stoop
down to her that she might give him a parting kiss, and then go
to her dear Saviour; and after she had impressed her dying lips
upon his cheek, she yielded her spirit into the hands of that
Redeemer, who, though His judgments are often unsearchable,
and His ways past finding out, has nevertheless said, ' I am the
resurrection and the life; if any man believe in me, though he die
yet shall he live.' "
Attack on Andrew Lycans and John Rewalt
On March 7th, Andrew Lycans and John Rewalt, settlers in
the Wiconisco, or Lykens Valley in Dauphin County, went out
early in the morning to feed their cattle when they were fired upon
by Indians. Hastening into the house, they prepared to defend
themselves. The Indians concealed themselves behind a pig-pen
some distance from the dwelling. Lycans' son, John, John Re-
walt, and Ludwig Shutt, a neighbor, upon creeping out of the
house, in an effort to discover the whereabouts of the Indians,
were fired upon and each one wounded, Shutt very dangerously.
At this point Andrew Lycans discovered an Indian named Joshua
James and two white men running away from their hiding place
near the pig-pen. The elder Lycans then fired, killing the Indian ;
and he and his party then sought safety in flight, but were closely
pursued by at least twenty of the Indians. John Lycans and
John Rewalt, although badly wounded, made their escape with
the aid of a negro servant, leaving Andrew Lycans, Ludwig Shutt,
and a boy to engage the Indians. The Indians then rushed upon
these and, as one of their number, named Bill Davis, was in the
act of striking the boy with his tomahawk, he was shot dead by
Shutt, while Andrew Lycans killed another and wounded a third.
Andrew Lycans also recognized two others of the band, namely,
Tom Hickman and Tom Hays, members of the Delaware tribe.
The Indians then momentarily ceased their pursuit, and Lycans,
Shutt, and the boy, weak from the loss of blood, sat down on a
log to rest, believing that they were no longer in imminent danger.
Later, Lycans managed to lead his party to a place of conceal-
ment and then over the mountain into Hanover Township, where
they were given assistance by settlers. Andrew Lycans, however,
272 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
died from his wounds and terrible exposure. His name has been
given to the charming valley of the Wiconisco. (Penna. Gazette,
March 18th, 1756.)
Attack on Zeislof and Kluck Families
On March 24th, some settlers with ten wagons went to Albany,
Berks County, for the purpose of bringing a family with their
effects to a point near Reading. As they were returning, they
were fired upon by a number of Indians on both sides of the road.
The wagoners, leaving the wagons, ran into the woods, and the
horses, frightened at the terrible yelling of the Indians, ran off.
The Indians on this occasion, killed George Zeislof and his wife, a
boy aged twenty, another aged twelve, and a girl aged fourteen.
Another girl of the party was shot through the neck and mouth,
and scalped, but made her escape.
On the same day the Indians burned the home of Peter Kluck,
about fourteen miles from Reading, and killed the entire family.
While the Kluck home was burning, the Indians assaulted the
house of a settler named Lindenman nearby, in which there were
two men and a woman, all of whom ran upstairs, where the
woman was killed by a bullet which penetrated the roof. The
men then ran out of the house. Lindenman was shot through the
neck. In spite of his wound, Lindenman succeeded in shooting
one of the Indians.
At about the same time a boy named John Schoep, who lived
in this neighborhood, was captured and taken seven miles beyond
the Blue Mountains where, according to the statement of Schoep,
the Indians kindled a fire, tied him to a tree, took off his shoes,
and put moccasins on his feet. They then prepared themselves
some mush, but gave him none. After supper they took young
Schoep and another boy between them, and proceeded over the
second mountain. During the second night of his captivity, when
the Indians were asleep, young Schoep made his escape, and re-
turned home.
During the raid in which the above outrages occurred, the In-
dians killed the wife of Baltser Neytong, and captured his son
aged eight. And in November, the Indians entered this region,
and carried off the wife and three children of Adam Burns, the
youngest child being only four weeks old. They also killed a man
named Stonebrook, and captured a girl in this raid. ("Frontier
Forts of Penna.," Vol. 1, pages 153 to 155.)
MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 273
Shingas Burns McCord's Fort
On April 1st, 1756, Shingas attacked and burned Fort McCord,
a private fort, erected in the autumn of 1755, and located several
miles north-east of Fort Loudon, Franklin County, and not far
from the Yankee Gap in the Kittatinny Mountains, west of
Chambersburg. All the inmates of the fort, twenty-seven in
number, were either killed or captured. After the destruction of
the fort, Shingas' band was pursued by three bodies of settlers
and soldiers. One body, commanded by Captain Alexander
Culbertson, overtook the Indians on Sideling Hill. Here a fierce
battle was fought for two hours, but Shingas being reinforced,
the white men were defeated with great loss, twenty-one killed
and seventeen wounded.
Among the killed were: Captain Alexander Culbertson, John
Reynolds, William Kerr, James Blair, John Leason, William
Denny, Francis Scott, William Boyd, Jacob Painter, Jacob Jones,
Robert Kerr and William Chambers. Among the wounded were
Francis Campbell, Abraham Jones, William Reynolds, John
Barnet, Benjamin Blyth, John McDonald and Isaac Miller.
The Indians, according to the statement of one of their number
who was captured, lost seventeen killed and twenty-one wounded
in this engagement.
Another body, commanded by Ensign Jamison, from Fort
Granville, went in pursuit of the same band of Indians, and was
also defeated. Among the killed were: Daniel McCoy, James
Robinson, James Pierce, John Blair, Henry Jones, John McCarty
and John Kelly. Among the wounded were: Ensign Jamison,
James Robinson (There were two James Robinsons in Ensign
Jamison's party), William Hunter, Matthias Ganshorn, William
Swails and James Louder, the last of whom later died of his
wounds.
Captain Hance Hamilton, in a letter written to Captain Potter,
dated Fort Lyttleton, April 4th, and recorded in Pa. Col. Rec,
Vol. 7, page 77, says the following concerning the terrible events
of which we are writing:
"These come to inform you of the melancholy news of what
occurred between the Indians, that have taken many captives
from McCord's Fort and a party of men under the command of
Captain Alexander Culbertson and nineteen of our men, the whole
amounting to about fifty, with the captives, and had a sore en-
gagement, many of both parties killed and many wounded, the
274 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
number unknown. Those wounded want a surgeon, and those
killed require your assistance as soon as possible, to bury them.
We have sent an express to Fort Shirley for Doctor Mercer, sup-
posing Doctor Jamison is killed or mortally wounded in the ex-
pedition. He being not returned, therefore, desire you will send
an express, immediately, for Doctor Prentice to Carlisle; we
imagining Doctor Mercer cannot leave the fort under the cir-
cumstances the fort is under. Our Indian, Isaac, has brought in
Captain Jacobs' scalp."
The scalp brought in by the friendly Indian, Isaac, was not
that of Captain Jacobs. This chief was not killed until the
destruction of Kittanning, by Colonel John Armstrong and his
Scotch-Irish troops from the Cumberland Valley, September 8th,
1756.
Likewise, Robert Robinson thus describes the attack on Mc-
Cord's Fort and the pursuit of the savages:
"In the year 1756 a party of Indians came out of the Conoco-
cheague to a garrison named McCord's Fort, where they killed
some and took a number prisoners. They then took their course
near to Fort Lyttleton. Captain Hamilton being stationed there
with a company, hearing of their route at McCord's Fort, marched
with his company of men, having an Indian with him who was
under pay. The Indians had McCord's wife with them; they cut
off Mr. James Blair's head and threw it into Mrs. McCord's lap,
saying that it was her husband's head; but she knew it to be
Blair's."
Mrs. McCord was taken to Kittanning, where she was rescued
when Colonel John Armstrong's forces destroyed this noted
stronghold of the Delawares.
The terrible disaster of Fort McCord and vicinity caused the
greatest consternation among the harried settlers of the Cumber-
land Valley. Block houses and farms were abandoned, and
refugees came streaming into Carlisle.
A monument now marks the site of Fort McCord, having there-
on a list of the killed and wounded — members of the leading
pioneer families of the present counties of Cumberland, Frank-
lin and Fulton.
Conclusion
This chapter brings us up to the time of Pennsylvania's decla-
ration of war against the Delawares and Shawnees. It is a story
of outrage, devastation and murder. But many of the horrors
MASSACRES EARLY IN 1756 275
on the Pennsylvania frontier during the early part of 1756 will
remain forever unrecorded. The statement of the French that,
from Braddock's defeat until the middle of March, 1756, more
than seven hundred people in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North
Carolina were killed and captured by the Delawares and Shaw-
nees, gives one an idea of the appalling tragedies in the cabin
homes of the pioneers.
CHAPTER XI
Carlisle Council — War Declared
ON January 13th to January 17th, 1756, an important In-
dian council was held at Carlisle between Governor Morris,
James Hamilton, Richard Peters, William Logan, Joseph Fox,
Conrad Weiser and George Croghan, on the one hand, and the
following Indians, on the other hand: The Belt of Wampum,
Aroas (Silver Heels), Jagrea (Zigera, Sata Karoyis), Canachquasy
(Kos Showweyha, Captain New Castle), Seneca George, Isaac,
and several chiefs of the Conestogas. The council had particular
reference to affairs on the Ohio.
George Croghan reported, at this council, that, in the latter
part of 1755, at the request of Governor Morris, he had sent
Delaware Jo, a friendly Indian, to the Ohio to gain what informa-
tion he could about the attitude and actions of the Delawares and
Shawnees of that place. Delaware Jo returned to Croghan's
fortified trading house, often called Croghan's Fort, at Aughwick,
now Shirleysburg, Huntingdon County, on January 8th, 1756. On
his journey to the Ohio, he visited Kittanning and Logstown.
He reported that, at Kittanning, then the residence of Shingas
and Captain Jacobs, he found one hundred and forty warriors,
mostly Delawares and Shawnees, and about one hundred English
prisoners, captured on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania;
that, at Kittanning, he met the Delaware chief, King Beaver, or
Tamaque, a brother of Shingas and Pisquetomen, and that King
Beaver told him that the French had often offered the Delawares
and Shawnees the "French Hatchet," but they had refused it
until April or May, 1755, when some Iroquois, Adirondack and
Caughnawage warriors, stopping at Fort Duquesne, on their
way to attack the Catawbas and Cherokees, were prevailed upon
by the French to offer the "French Hatchet" to the Delawares
and Shawnees, who then and there accepted the hatchet, and
went with the other Indians into Virginia. King Beaver further
told Delaware Jo that neither he nor the other chiefs of the Dela-
wares and Shawnees approved the action of the members of their
CARLISLE COUNCIL— WAR DECLARED 277
tribes who had accepted the "French Hatchet," that they were
sorry for this action, and wished to "make Matters up with the
EngUsh."
At Logstown, Delaware Jo found about one hundred Indians
and thirty EngUsh prisoners. These prisoners had been captured
on the frontiers of Virginia. The French had tried to buy the
prisoners, but the Indians refused to sell them until they should
hear from the Six Nations. Delaware Jo further reported that
there were some warriors of the Six Nations living with the Dela-
wares and Shawnees on the Allegheny and Ohio, and that they
often went with them in their incursions into the settlements.
When at Logstown, this friendly Delaware intended to go to
Fort Duquesne to see what the French were doing, but found he
could not cross the river for the driving of the ice. He was in-
formed, however, that the number of the French did not exceed
four hundred. From Logstown, he returned to Kittanning, and
there learned that ten Delawares had recently left for the Sus-
quehanna, "as he supposed to persuade those Indians to strike
the English, who might perhaps be concerned in the Mischief
lately done in the County of Northampton" — atrocities described
in Chapter X. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6, pages 781, 782.)
James Hamilton reported, at this council, that, in November,
1755, he had sent Aroas, or Silver Heels, to the Indian towns on
the Susquehanna to gain information, whereupon Aroas was
called in and gave the following account of his journey:
"That he found no Indians at Shamokin, and therefore pro-
ceeded higher up Sasquehanna, as far as to Nescopecka, where he
saw one hundred and forty Indians, all Warriors; that they were
dancing the war dance; expressed great bitterness against the
English, and were preparing for an expedition against them, and
he thought would go to the Eastward. He did not stay with
them, finding them in this disposition, but went to the House of
an uncle of his, at a little distance from Nescopecka, between
that and Wyoming, who told him the Delawares and Shawnees
on the Ohio were persuaded by the French to strike the English,
and had put the Hatchet into the Hands of the Susquehannah
Indians, a great many of whom had taken it greedily, and there
was no persuading them to the Contrary, and that they would
do abundance of mischief to the People of Pennsylvania, against
whom they were preparing to go to War." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 6,
page 783.)
The Belt of Wampum, at this council, made a long speech in
278 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
which he reviewed the events that had taken place on the Ohio
and Allegheny from the time the French had first occupied this
region until the Delawares and Shawnees took up arms against
Pennsylvania. Being the official keeper of the wampum belts,
this chief was well qualified to review these events. Among other
things, he said that, after Tanacharison had delivered his third
notice to the French to withdraw from the valleys of the Al-
legheny and Ohio, it was learned that "the French had prevailed
upon the Shawonese, who were a Nation in alliance with the Six
Nations, and living by their Sufferance upon a part of their
Country, and upon the Delawares, who were a tribe conquered
by and entirely dependent upon them, to enter into a separate
and private Treaty with them, by which they, the Shawonese
and Delawares, had agreed not only to permit the French to
take Possession of the Country upon the Ohio, as far as they
would, but to assist them against the English, if their Aid should
be found necessary in the Contest, which the taking Possession of
that Country should occasion. That, in consequence of this
secret Treaty, and upon the Persuasions of the French, who have
acquired a considerable Influence over these Two Tribes, they
had fallen upon the English and done the mischief already com-
plained of without any just Reason or Cause." (Pa. Col. Rec,
Vol. 6, pages 3 and 4.)
There are several significant things in the above statement of
the Belt of Wampum. One is that the Delawares and Shawnees
were endeavoring to break away from the overlordship of the Six
Nations, their conquerors, and to make treaties for themselves.
Another is, as Dr. George P. Donehoo points out in his "Penn-
sylvania— A History," that "the attempts of the Quaker element
in the Assembly to justify the action of these hostile tribes, from
the standpoint of the Six Nations, was without any real founda-
tion." This is evident from the great historical fact that those
Iroquois on the Ohio and Allegheny who went with the Shawnees
and Delawares on their incursions into the settlements were not
genuine members of the great Iroquois or Six Nation Confedera-
tion, but a mixture of Iroquoian stock on the outskirts of the
habitat of the Senecas. In other words, these Indians who
joined the Delawares and Shawnees, were a mongrel population
of the Ohio and Allegheny valleys, known as the Mingoes; they
were not true representatives of the Confederation of the Six
Nations, and were beyond the jurisdiction of the historic Con-
federation.
CARLISLE COUNCIL— WAR DECLARED 279
George Croghan said, at this Carlisle council, that he believed
the Delawares and Shawnees were acting in their hostile manner
with the approval of the Six Nations; but he should have con-
sidered that the Mingoes were a rabble element beyond the
jurisdiction of the Six Nations, and that the true representatives
of the great Iroquois Confederation on the Ohio, such as Tanacha-
rison, Scarouady, The Belt of Wampum, Captain New Castle
and Seneca George, never wavered in their friendship for the
English and always disapproved of the hostile actions of the
Mingoes. They even succeeded in keeping many of the Dela-
wares and Shawnees friendly to the English.
Scarouady Returns From His Mission to the Six Nations
We shall now learn from Scarouady the real attitude of the
Six Nations. As stated in Chapter IX, Governor Morris, in the
middle of November, 1755, sent Scarouady and Andrew Montour
on a mission to the Six Nations — a mission in which they were
instructed to give the real authorities of the Six Nations a com-
plete account of the bloody invasion of the Delawares and Shaw-
nees and to ascertain whether or not this invasion was made with
the knowledge, consent or order of the Six Nations, also to
ascertain whether the Six Nations would chastise the Delawares
and Shawnees for their hostile action.
Scarouady and Montour returned to Philadelphia from this
mission on March 21, 1756, and on the 27th of that month, they
appeared before the Provincial Council, and made a report of
their journey. They had gone by way of Tulpehocken and
Thomas McKee's trading post to Shamokin; and from there
through Laugpaughpitton's Town and Nescopeck to Wyoming
(Plymouth, Luzerne County). At Wyoming they found a large
number of Delawares, some Shawnees, Mohicans, and members
of the Six Nations. They next came to Asserughney, a Delaware
Town, twelve miles above Wyoming, near the junction of the
Susquehanna and Lackawanna. Their next stop was at Chink-
annig (Tunkhannock), twenty miles farther up the Susquehanna,
where they found the great Delaware chief, Teeduscung, with
some Delawares and Nanticokes. Their next stop was at Diahogo
(Tioga), a town composed of Mohicans and Delawares of the
Munsee Clan, located where Athens, Bradford County, now
stands, at which place they found ninety warriors. About twenty-
five miles beyond, they came to the deserted town of Owegy.
280 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Leaving this place they arrived at Chugnut, about twenty miles
distant. About five miles above Chugnut, was the town of
Otseningo, where they found thirty cabins and about sixty war-
riors of the Nanticokes, Conoys, and Onondagas. Fourteen miles
beyond this place they came to Oneoquagque, where they sent a
message to the Governor of Pennsylvania, written by Rev.
Gideon Hawley. From there they proceeded to Teyonnoderre
and Teyoneandakt, and next to Caniyeke, the Lower Mohawk
Town, located about two miles from Fort Johnson, and about
forty miles from Albany, New York. At Fort Johnson, they held
a conference in February, 1756, with Sir William Johnson and the
chiefs of the Six Nations, who expressed great resentment over
the action of the hostile Delawares.
This was a very dangerous journey for Scarouady and Mon-
tour. While they were at Wyoming, their lives were threatened
by a party of eighty Delaware warriors, who came soon after their
arrival. While Scarouady was consulting with the oldest chief in
the evening, the rest cried out of doors: "Let us kill the rogue;
we will hear of no mediator, much less of a master; hold your ton-
gue, and be gone, or you shall live no longer. We will do what we
please." Said Scarouady: "All the way from Wyoming to
Diahogo, a day never passed without meeting some warriors, six,
eight, or ten in a party ; and twenty under command at Cut Finger
Pete, going after the eighty warriors which we saw at Wyoming.
. . . All the way we met parties of Delawares going to join the
eighty warriors there."
Scarouady reported that, at Wyoming he and Montour found
John Shikellamy, son of the great vice-gerent of the Six Nations,
with the hostile Delawares. They took him aside, and upbraided
him severely for his ingratitude to Pennsylvania, "which had ever
been extremely kind to his father when alive." Then John
Shikellamy explained that he was with the enemies of the Colony,
because he could not help it, as they had threatened to kill him
if he did not join them.
Scarouady again appeared before the Provincial Council on
April 3d and gave additional details of his journey. Said he:
"You desired us in your instructions to inquire the particular rea-
sons assigned by the Delawares and Shawnees for their acting in
the manner they do against this Province. I have done it and all
I could get from the Indians is that they heard them say their
brethren, the English, had accused them very falsely of joining
with the French after Colonel Washington's defeat, and if they
CARLISLE COUNCIL— WAR DECLARED 281
would charge them when they were innocent, they could do no
more if they were guilty; this turned them against their brethren
and now indeed the English have good reason for any charge they
may make against them, for they are heartily their enemies."
As to the attitude of the Six Nations, Scarouady reported:
"The Six Nations in their reply expressed great resentment of
the Delawares; they threatened to shake them by the head, saying
they were drunk and out of their senses and would not consider
the consequences of their ill behavior and assured them that, if
they did not perform what they had promised they should be
severely chastized." At this meeting of the Provincial Council
and at others held early in April, Scarouady expressed himself as
favoring a declaration of war by Pennsylvania against the Dela-
wares, and ventured the opinion that the Six Nations would
approve of such action. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 64 to 72.)
Pennsylvania Declares War Against Delawares and
Shawnees, and Offers Rewards for Scalps
Not only Scarouady, but many other prominent men, including
James Hamilton, strongly urged that Pennsylvania should de-
clare war against the Delawares and Shawnees, and offer bounties
for their scalps. As a result of the foregoing conferences with
Scarouady, Governor Morris, on April 8th, 1756, delivered an
address to this great sachem and Andrew Montour, which had
been approved by the Provincial Council, in which he said:
"I therefore, by this Belt, declare War against the Delawares
and all such as act in conjunction with them. I offer you the
Hatchet, and expect your hearty Concurrence with us in this
just and Necessary War. I not only invite you, but desire you
will send this Belt to all your Friends everywhere, as well on the
Susquehannah, as to the Six Nations and to their Allies, and
engage them to join us heartily against these false and perfidous
Enemies. I promise you and them Protection and Assistance,
when you shall stand in need of it against your Enemies.
"For the Encouragement of you, and all who will join you in
the Destruction of our Enemies, I propose to give the following
Bounties or Rewards, Vist: for every Male Indian Prisoner
above Twelve Years Old that shall be delivered at any of the
Government's Forts, or Towns, One Hundred and Fifty Dollars.
"For every Female Prisoner, or Male Prisoner of Twelve years
old, one hundred and thirty Dollars.
282 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
"For the Scalp of every male Indian of above Twelve Years
old, one hundred and thirty dollars.
"For the scalp of every Indian Woman, Fifty Dollars.
"To our own People, I shall observe our own forms; to you I
give the Hatchet according to yours.
"Agreeable to your repeated Request, I am now going to Build
a Fort at Shamokin. Forces are raising for that Purpose, and
everything will soon be in Readiness." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7,
pages 75 and 76.)
Having used the Indian forms in declaring war, the Governor
now made good his promise to Scarouady to "observe our own
forms to our own people." The formal declaration of war and
the bounty offered for prisoners and scalps was signed by the
Commissioners, James Hamilton, Joseph Fox, Evan Morgan,
John Mififlin and John Hughes. Then, against the protests of
Samuel Powell and others, on behalf of the Quakers, the procla-
mation of war against the Delawares and Shawnees, was "pub-
lished at the Court House, on April 14th, in the presence of the
Provincial Council, Supreme Judges, Magistrates, Officers and a
large Concourse of People." The language of that part of the
formal declaration, relating to the bounties ofTered for Indian
scalps, is as follows:
"For every male Indian enemy above twelve years old, who
shall be taken prisoner and delivered at any fort, garrisoned by
the troops in pay of this Province, or at any of the county towns
to the keepers of the common jail there, the sum of 150 Spanish
dollars or pieces of eight; for the scalp of every male enemy above
the age of twelve years, produced to evidence of their being killed
the sum of 130 pieces of eight; for every female Indian taken
prisoner and brought in as aforesaid, and for every male Indian
prisoner under the age of twelve years, taken and brought in as
aforesaid, 130 pieces of eight; for the scalp of every Indian wo-
man, produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of fifty
pieces of eight, and for every English subject that has been killed
and carried from this Province into captivity that shall be recov-
ered and brought in and delivered at the City of Philadelphia, to
the Governor of this Province, the sum of 130 pieces of eight, but
nothing for their scalps; and that there shall be paid to every
officer or soldier as are or shall be in the pay of the Province who
shall redeem and deliver any English subject carried into captivity
as aforesaid, or shall take, bring in and produce any enemy pris-
oner, or scalp as aforesaid, one-half of the said several and respec-
CARLISLE COUNCIL— WAR DECLARED 283
tive premiums and bounties." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages
88 and 89.)
The Scalp Act had the effect of causing hundreds of brave
warriors of the Delawares and Shawnees who were up to that time
undecided, to take up arms against the Colony. "A mighty
shout arose which shook the very mountains, and all the Delawares
and Shawnees, except a few old sachems, danced the war dance."
James Logan, a prominent Quaker member of the Provincial
Council, and former Secretary of the same, opposed the declara-
tion of war, though he was a strict advocate of defensive warfare.
Conrad Weiser was in favor of the declaration of war, but strongly
opposed to offering rewards for sdalps. He said that the Colony
might offer rewards for Indian prisoners, but that a bounty for
scalps would certainly tend to aggravate existing affairs. He
argued that anyone could bring in these scalps, and there was no
means of distinguishing the scalps of friendly Indians. "Indeed,"
says Walton, "this was the core of the whole difficulty. Scalps of
friendly Indians were taken, and the peace negotiations with the
Eastern Indians frustrated."
Sir William Johnson was displeased with Pennsylvania's
declaration of war and offering of bounties for scalps, at a time
when a great council was about to be held at Onondaga. The
opposition of the Quakers to these measures was due largely to
the fact that they believed the Delawares had been unjustly
treated by the Province, after the Six Nations came into such
prominence in Pennsylvania's relations with the Indians. The
Quakers called attention to the fraudulent "Walking Purchase,"
by which the Delawares had been compelled by the Iroquois to
surrender possession of their ancestral possessions, and to the
Purchase of July, 1754, by which the Iroquois sold the land of
the Delawares and Shawnees "from under their feet." The land
sales drove the Delawares from one place to another. Wherever
they went, the land on which they erected their wigwams was
sold by their Iroquois conquerors without their being consulted
or having any say whatever in the matter. Therefore, it is no
wonder that the Quakers sympathized with the Delawares, the
affectionate friends of the greatest of the Quakers, William Penn,
the Founder of the Province.
Great Britain did not declare war against France until May
17th, 1756, an act which was not known in Pennsylvania until
about two months later. The declaration was published at
Easton, July 30th, and a little later in Philadelphia.
CHAPTER XII
Atrocities in the Summer and
Autumn of 1756
THE erection of frontier forts, the organization of military
companies, and the scalp bounties did not prevent the Dela-
wares and Shawnees from making bloody raids into the settle-
ments. Crossing the mountains through the various gaps,
the Indians fell upon the settlements along the Conococheague,
in Franklin County, along Tuscarora Creek, in Juniata County,
also upon various settlements in the counties of Perry, Dauphin,
Cumberland, Lebanon, Schuylkill, Carbon, Berks, Lehigh, North-
ampton and Monroe.
The failure of the "Scalp Act" to bring the desired results is
seen in a letter sent to Governor Morris, on June 14th, 1756, by
the Commissioners, Benjamin Franklin, John Mifflin, Joseph Fox,
Evan Morgan and John Hughes, in which they say that they are
disappointed in the number of persons volunteering to "go out
on the Scalping." They then add:
"We think, however, that the Indians ought to be persued and
Hunted ; and as the back Inhabitants begin now to request Guards
to protect them in getting in their Harvest, we submit it to the
Governor's Consideration whether the best means of affording
them the Protection will not be to order out parties from the Forts
to range on the West side of Susquehannah, quite to the Ohio
and the Neighbourhood of Fort Duquesne, to Annoy the Enemy,
take Prisoners, and obtain Intelligence, which may be of great
use," etc. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 153.)
The harvest of the summer of 1756 was, according to Joseph
Armstrong and Adam Hoops, the most bountiful in the "Memory
of Man." Yet, on account of the tomahawk, rifle, scalping knife
and torch of the Delawares and Shawnees, the settlers fled from
their farms, leaving their abundant crops of grain and corn stand-
ing in the fields. Every time an attempt was made to harvest the
ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 285
crops, it was necessary to guard the farmers by Provincial troops.
Even then, many troops and farmers were killed and captured
by the lurking foe.
In June, 1756, a Mr. Dean, who lived about a mile east of
Shippensburg, Cumberland County, was found murdered in his
cabin, his skull having been cleft with a tomahawk; and it was
supposed that the deed was committed by some Indians who had
been seen in the neighborhood the day before. On the 6th of this
month, a short distance from where Burd's Run crosses the road
leading from Shippensburg to Middle Spring Church, a band of
Indians killed John McKean and John Agnew, and captured
Hugh Black, William Carson, Andrew Brown, James Ellis and
Alex McBride. A party of settlers from Shippensburg pursued
the Indians through McAllister's Gap into Path Valley. On the
morning of the third day of the pursuit, they met all the prisoners
except James Ellis, on their way home, after having made their
escape. Ellis was never heard from again. The pursuers returned
with the men who had escaped. A few days before the murder of
Mr. Dean, John Wasson was murdered and his body frightfully
mangled, in Peters Township, Franklin County.
On June 8th, a band of Indians crept up on Felix Wuench as
he was ploughing on his farm near Swatara Gap, and shot him
through the breast. The poor man cried lamentably and started
to run, defending himself with a whip; but the Indians overtook
him, tomahawked and scalped him. His wife, hearing his cries
and the report of the guns, ran out of the house, but was captured
with one of her own and two of her sister's children. A servant
boy who saw this atrocity ran to a neighbor named George Miess,
who, though he had a crippled leg, ran directly after the Indians
and made such a noise as to scare them off.
On June 24th, Indians attacked the home of Lawrence Dieppel,
in Bethel Township, Berks County, carrying off two of the chil-
dren, one of whom they later killed and scalped. (Penna. Gazette,
June 17th, 1756; Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 164.)
On June 26, in the same neighborhood in which the above
atrocities were committed, a band of Indians surprised and
scalped Franz Albert and Jacob Handschue, also two boys,
Frederick Weiser and John George Miess, who were plowing in
the field of a settler named Fischer. (See "Frontier Forts," Vol.
I, page 65.)
286 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Burning of Bingham's Fort
On June 11th or 12th, 1756, Bingham's Fort, the stockaded
home of Samuel Bingham, or Bigham, in Tuscarora Township,
Juniata County, was attacked and burned by a band of Indians
led by the Delaware chief. King Beaver. All the occupants of
the fort were either killed or captured. On the day of the attack,
John Gray and Francis Innis were returning from Carlisle, where
they had gone for salt. As they were descending the Tuscarora
Mountain, in a narrow defile, Gray's horse taking fright at a bear
which crossed the road, became unmanageable and threw him off.
Innis, anxious to see his wife and family, went on, but Gray was
detained for nearly two hours in catching his horse and righting
his pack. In the meantime, Innis pressed on rapidly toward the
fort. What happened to him, we shall presently see. John
Gray's detention saved him from death or capture. He arrived
at the fort just in time to see the last of its timbers consumed.
With a heart full of anguish, he examined the charred remains of
the bodies inside the fort, in an efifort to ascertain whether any
were those of his family. It subsequently was found that his
wife, Hannah, and his only daughter, Jane, three years of age,
were among the captured.
The Pennsylvania Gaze//e, June 24th, 1756, gave the following
list of persons killed and captured on this occasion :
"The following is a list of persons killed and missing at Bing-
ham's Fort, namely: George Woods, Nathaniel Bingham, Robert
Taylor, his wife and two children, Francis Innis, his wife and three
children, John McDonnell, Hannah Gray and one child, missing.
Some of these are supposed to be burnt in the fort, as a number of
bones were found there. Susan Giles was found dead and scalped
in the neighborhood of the fort. Robert Cochran and Thomas
McKinney found dead and scalped. Alexander McAllister and
his wife, James Adams, Jane Cochran and two children missed.
McAllister's house was burned and a number of cattle and horses
driven off. The enemy was supposed to be numerous, as they did
eat and carry off a great deal of beef they had killed."
All the prisoners taken at Bingham's Fort were marched to
Kittanning and from there to Fort Duquesne, where they were
parceled out and adopted by the Indians. George Woods, one of
these prisoners, was given to an Indian named John Hutson, who
removed him to his own wigwam. Woods later purchased his
ransom, and returned to the settlements. He was a surveyor,
ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AU lUMN OF 1756 287
and followed this vocation in the counties of Juniata, Bedford
and Allegheny. When Pittsburgh was laid out, in 1784, he
assisted in this work, and one of its principal streets. Wood Street,
is named for him.
Hannah Gray and her daughter, Jane, were carried to Canada.
Later in the summer of 1756, her husband, John Gray, joined
Colonel John Armstrong's expedition against Kittanning, in the
hope of either recovering his wife and daughter or gaining some
intelligence of their whereabouts. He returned disappointed,
and a few years thereafter died. After about four years of cap-
tivity, Mrs. Gray, by the assistance of some traders, made her
escape, and reached her home in safety, but unhappily, was
compelled to leave her daughter with the Indians. The little
girl never returned. At the close of Pontiac's War, many children,
captured by the Indians during this and the French and Indian
War, were delivered up to Colonel Bouquet, and brought to
Carlisle and Philadelphia to be recognized and claimed by their
relatives and friends. Mrs. Gray, at Philadelphia, searched in
vain among these returned captives for her daughter, and then
took one of them, a girl of about her daughter's age. The taking
of this child in the place of her own daughter brought on a famous
law suit over the title of the farm her husband had devised to her
and the daughter in case they returned from captivity. This law
suit is known as "Frederick et al. versus Gray. It finally reached
the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, and is reported in the Reports
of this tribunal, in No. 10 Sergeant and Rawle, pages 182 to 188.
Francis Innis and his wife were sold to the French and taken to
Canada in December, 1756, after the wife had been severely in-
jured in running the gauntlet. While the Indians were taking the
family to Montreal, they put the youngest of the children, who
was sickly, under the ice of one of the rivers. While in Montreal,
another child, James, was born. Mr. and Mrs. Innis were re-
leased by the French, and returned to their home. Their sur-
viving children remained among the Indians until the autumn of
1764, when they were delivered up to Colonel Bouquet, and soon
returned to their parents. (Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 1,
pages 586 to 591 ; Day's Historical Collections," pages 383 to 385.)
Capture of John McCullough
On July 26th the Indians entered the valley of the Conoco-
cheague, in Franklin County, killing Joseph Martin, and taking
288 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
captive two brothers, John and James McCullough. James Mc-
Cullough, the father of these boys, had only a few years before
removed from Delaware into what is now Montgomery Town-
ship, Franklin County. At the time of this Indian incursion, the
McCullough family were residing temporarily in a cabin three
miles from their home, and the parents and their daughter, Mary,
on the day of the capture, went home to pull flax. A neighbor,
named John Allen, who had business at Fort Loudon, accom-
panied them to their home, and promised to return that way in
the evening, and accompany them back to their cabin. However,
he did not keep his promise, and returned by a circuitous route.
When he reached the McCullough cabin on his return, he told
John and James to hide, that Indians were near and that he sup-
posed they had killed Mr. and Mrs. McCullough, John was but
eight years old, and James but five at the time. They alarmed
their neighbors, but none would volunteer to go to the Mc-
Cullough home to warn Mr. and Mrs. McCullough, being too
much interested in making preparations to hurry to the fort a
mile distant for safety.
Then the boys determined to warn their parents themselves.
Leaving their little sister, Elizabeth, aged two, asleep in bed, they
proceeded to a point where they could see the McCullough home,
and began to shout. When they had reached a point about sixty
yards from the house, five Indians and a Frenchman, who had
been secreted in the thicket, rushed upon them and took them
captive. The parents were not captured, inasmuch as the father,
hearing the boys shout, had left his work and thus the Indians
missed him, and they failed to notice the mother and Mary at
work in the field.
John and James were taken to Fort Duquesne. From this
place James was carried to Canada, and all trace of him became
lost. John was taken to Kittanning, Kuskuskies, Shenango,
Mahoning and the Muskingum, was adopted by the Delawares,
and remained among them for nine years until liberated by
Colonel Bouquet in the autumn of 1764. At one time his father
came to Venango (Franklin) to recover him, and at another time
to Mahoning, for the same purpose, but the boy had been so long
among the Indians that he preferred the Indian life to returning
with his father, and succeeded in eluding him. After his liberation
by Colonel Bouquet, he returned to the community from which
he had been taken nine years before, and lived there nearly sixty
years. He wrote a most interesting account of his captivity,
ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 289
which sheds much Hght on the manners and customs of the Dela-
wares at that time.
Other Outrages In Perry, Franklin and
and Cumberland Counties
During the same month (July), Hugh Robinson was captured
and his mother killed at Robinson's Fort, in Perry County. Hugh,
after being carried to the western part of the state, made his es-
cape. Also, during this same month a number of Indians ap-
peared near Fort Robinson, killed the daughter of Robert Miller,
the wife of James Wilson, and a Mrs. Gibson, and captured Hugh
Gibson and Betty Henry.
Robert Robinson, in his Narrative, says that nearly all the
occupants of the fort were out in the harvest fields reaping their
grain, when the Indians waylaid the place. The reapers, forty
in number, returned to the fort, and the Indians then fled. While
one of the Indians was scalping the wife of James Wilson, Robert
Robinson shot and wounded him. The captives were taken to
Kittanning.
Hugh Gibson was 14 years old at the time of his capture. He
was adopted by an Indian, named Busqueetam, who was lame
from a knife wound, received when skinning a deer. Gibson had
to build a lodge for the Indian. At one time the lodge fell down
on the Indian and injured him. He then called for his knife and
ordered Gibson and some Indians to carry him into another hut.
While they were carrying the Indian, Gibson saw him hunt for
the knife and Gibson's Indian mother concealed it. When they
put the Indian to bed, the Indian mother ordered Gibson to con-
ceal himself, and he afterwards heard the Indian reprove his wife
for hiding the knife. The old Indian soon forgot his anger and
treated Gibson well thereafter.
Sometime later all the prisoners were collected to see the torture
of a woman prisoner. She had fled to the white men at the time
Colonel Armstrong burned Kittanning. They stripped her naked,
bound her to a post and applied hot irons to her, while the skin
stuck to the irons at every touch. Thus was she tortured to
death.
Also, in July, 1756, a band of Indians attacked the plantation
of Robert Baskins, who lived near Baskinsville railroad station.
They murdered Mr. Baskins, burned his house, and captured his
wife and children. Part of the same band captured Hugh Carroll
290 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
and his family. The Indians, committing these outrages, were
Delawares, who had come down the Juniata into Perry County
after having appeared near Fort Granville, July 22nd, and
challenged the garrison to fight — a challenge which was declined
on account of the weakness of the garrison.
About the same time, according to Egle's "History of Penn-
sylvania," a band of Indians murdered a family of seven persons,
on Sherman's Creek, Perry County, and then passed over the
Kittatinny or Blue Mountains at Sterrett's Gap, wounding a man
and capturing a Mrs. Boyle, her two sons and a daughter, living
on Conodoguinet Creek, Cumberland County. These are
probably the same atrocities mentioned by Colonel John Arm-
strong in a letter written from Carlisle to Governor Morris, on
July 23d, 1756, and recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 719,
in which he says:
"Being just got home, I am unable to furnish your Honor with
the Occurrences of these two days past, in which time the Indians
have begun to take advantage of the Harvest Season. Seven
people on this side of the Kittatinney Hills being Kill'd and miss-
ing within this county, and two on the South Side of the Tem-
porary line."
About this time, occurred the Williamson and Nicholson trag-
edies in Mifflin Township, Cumberland County, though neither
the date nor the details of the same can be definitely set forth.
It seems that eight or nine members of the Williamson family, all
except Mrs. Williamson and her babe, were victims of the toma-
hawk, rifle and scalping knife of the Indians. Mr. Nicholson was
shot at the door of his cabin, but his wife and brother within, suc-
ceeded in keeping the Indians at bay until morning, when they
left the neighborhood. Tradition says that the mother and
brother each mounted a horse, the former carrying two children
and the latter his slain brother, and rode to Shippensburg, where
they buried the murdered man. (See "History of Cumberland
and Adams Counties," Werner, Beers and Co., Chicago, 1886,
pages 308, 309.)
Probably during the summer of 1756, though Loudon gives the
date as April 2nd, 1757, William McKinney, who had sought
shelter with his family at Fort Chambers, where Chambersburg,
Franklin County, now stands, ventured out of the fort, accom-
panied by his son, for the purpose of visiting his dwelling and
plantation. They were surprised by the Indians, and both were
ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 291
killed and scalped. Their bodies were brought to the fort and
buried. (Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 1, page 532.)
Egle, in his "History of Pennsylvania," mentions another
tragedy which, he says happened in Franklin County, in the
summer of 1756, as follows:
"William Mitchell, an inhabitant of Conococheague, had col-
lected a number of reapers to cut down his grain; having gone
out to the field, the reapers all laid down their guns at the fence,
and set in to reap. The Indians suffered them to reap on for
some time, till they got out in the open field. They secured their
guns, killed and captured every one."
James Young's letter, written at Carlisle on July 22nd, 1756,
and recorded in Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 716 and 717, describes
other atrocities, committed in Franklin and Cumberland counties
during the terrible summer of which we are writing:
"On the 20th Inst., in the morning, a party of Indians Surpriz'd
two of Captain Steel's [Rev. John Steel] men on this side McDow-
ell's mill; they killed and scalped one; the other they carried off;
the Reapers made their escape; also, one of the soldiers from Mc-
Dowell's Mill that went with two Women to the Spring for some
water is missing; the women got off safe to the fort, and almost
at the same time, a man and a women were scalped a few miles
on the other side of the mill. And yesterday morning, Eight
Indians came to the house of Jacob Peeble, near the great Spring
and McCluker's Gap, about ten miles from this place, on this
side the mountain; they killed an Old Woman and carried off
two children, and an old man is missing; they pursued a boy who
was on horse back a long way, but he escaped ; there were some
people Reaping at a small distance from the house, but knew
nothing of what was doing at home, for the Indians did not fire
a Gun ... A party went from this town to bury the dead, and
are returned again; they inform me that the Country People are
all leaving their houses to come down, as there is great reason to
fear many more Indians will soon be among them."
On August 28th, according to Loudon, Betty Ramsey, her son
and cropper were killed, and her daughter was taken captive,
probably in Franklin County. This same authority relates that
on one occasion, probably in 1756, a band of Indians came into
the valley of the Conococheague, and killed and scalped many
persons, whereupon a large party of settlers pursued them, over-
taking them on Sideling Hill, and compelling them to flee leaving
their guns behind.
292 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
At the time of these murders, incursions were being made into
that part of Maryland lying south of Franklin County, Pennsyl-
vania. On August 27th, occurred the terrible massacre on Salis-
bury plain, near the mouth of the Conococheague, in which
thirty-nine persons were killed. An attack was made on a
funeral party, in which fifteen were killed and many wounded.
The same day six men went from Israel Baker's on a scout. Of
these, four were killed, one was captured, and another, though
wounded, escaped. The same day, also, some soldiers going from
Shirley's Fort, were killed and captured. On the following day
Captain Emmett and a party of scouts were attacked while cross-
ing the South Mountain. Three of them were killed and two
wounded.
Massacre Near McDowell's Mill
Early in November, 1756, the beautiful valley of the Conoco-
cheague, in Franklin County, was again devastated and many of
its inhabitants were killed by the hostile Indians. Robert
Callender, writing from Carlisle, on November 4th, thus in-
formed Governor Denny of these atrocities:
"This Day I received Advice from Fort McDowell that, on
Monday or Tuesday last, one Samuel Perry, and his two Sons
went from the Fort to their Plantation, and not returning at the
Time they proposed, the Commanding Ofificer there sent a Cor-
poral and fourteen Men to know the Cause of their Stay, who not
finding them at the Plantation, they marched back towards the
Fort, and on their Return found the said Perry killed and scalped,
and covered over with Leaves; immediately after a Party of
Indians, in Number about thirty, appeared and attacked the
Soldiers, who returned the Fire, and fought for Sometime until
four of our People fell ; the rest then made off, and six of them got
into the fort, but what became of the rest is not yet known; there
are also two families cut off, but cannot tell the Number of
People. It is likewise reported that the Enemy in their Retreat
burnt a Quantity of Grain and sundry Houses in the Coves."
(Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, page 29.)
Four days later. Colonel John Armstrong wrote Governor
Denny, from Carlisle, giving the list of the killed and missing in
this bloody raid, as follows:
"Soldiers Kill'd — James and William McDonald, Bartholomew
McCafferty, Anthony McQuoid.
ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 293
"Of the Inhabitants Kill'd— John Culbertson, Samuel Perry,
Hugh Kerrel, John Woods, with his Wife and Mother-in-law,
Elizabeth Archer, Wife to J no. Archer.
"Soldiers Missing — James McCorkem, William Cornwall.
"Of the Inhabitants Missing — Four Children belonging to
John Archer, Samuel Neely, a Boy, James McQuoid, a Child."
(Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages 40 and 41.)
Attack on the Boyer Family
Sometime during the summer of 1756, though authorities differ
as to the exact date, occurred the attack on the Boyer family,
who lived in the vicinity of Fort Lehigh, at Lehigh Gap. The
"Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania" thus describes this event:
"His [Boyer's] place was about IJ^ miles east of the Fort, on
land now owned by Josiah Arner, James Ziegenfuss and George
Kunkle. With the other farmers he had gathered his family into
the blockhouse for protection. One day, however, with his son
Frederick, then thirteen years old, and the other children, he
went home to attend to the crops. Mr. Boyer was ploughing and
Fred was hoeing, whilst the rest of the children were in the house
or playing near by. Without any warning they were surprised
by the appearance of Indians. Mr. Boyer, seeing them, called to
Fred to run, and himself endeavored to reach the house. Finding
he could not do so, he ran towards the creek, and was shot through
the head as he reached the farther side. Fred, who had escaped to
the wheat field, was captured and brought back. The Indians,
having scalped the father in his presence, took the horses from the
plough, his sisters and himself, and started for Stone Hill, in the
rear of the house. There they were joined by another party of
Indians and marched northward to Canada. On the march the
sisters were separated from their brother and never afterwards
heard from. Frederick was a prisoner with the French and In-
dians in Canada for five years, and was then sent to Philadelphia.
Of Mrs. Boyer, who remained in the blockhouse, nothing further
is known. After reaching Philadelphia, Frederick made his way
to Lehigh Gap, and took possession of the farm. Shortly after he
married a daughter of Conrad Mehrkem, with whom he had four
sons and four daughters. He died October 31, 1832, aged 89
years."
294 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Murder at the Bloody Spring
During July, Samuel Miles and Lieutenant Atlee were am-
bushed by three Indians near a spring about half a mile from Fort
Augusta, at Sunbury. A soldier who had come to the spring for a
drink, was killed. Miles and Atlee made their escape. A rescuing
party came out from the fort, and found the soldier scalped, with
his blood trickling into the spring, giving its waters a crimson
hue. The spring was ever afterwards called the Bloody Spring.
(Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 1, page 362.)
Captain Jacobs Captures Fort Granville
On August 1st, 1756, the Delaware chief. Captain Jacobs, at the
head of a band of his tribe from Kittanning, accompanied by
some French soldiers, captured and burned Fort Granville, on
the Juniata, near Lewistown, Mifflin County. We quote the fol-
lowing account of this event from the "Frontier Forts of Penn-
sylvania":
"The attack upon Fort Granville was made in harvest time of
the year 1756. The Fort at this time was commanded by Lieut.
Armstrong, a brother of Colonel Armstrong, who destroyed Kit-
tanning. The Indians, who had been lurking about this fort for
some time, and knowing that Armstrong's men were few in num-
ber, sixty of them appeared, July 22nd, before the fort, and chal-
lenged the garrison to a fight; but this was declined by the com-
mander in consequence of the weakness of his force. The Indians
fired at and wounded one man, who had been a short way from it,
yet he got in safe; after which they divided themselves into small
parties, one of which attacked the plantation of one Baskins, near
the Juniata, whom they murdered, burnt his house and carried off
his wife and children. Another made Hugh Carroll and his
family prisoners.
"On the 30th of July, 1756, Capt. Edward Ward, the com-
mandant of Granville, marched from the fort with a detachment
of men from the garrison, destined for Tuscarora Valley, where
they were needed as guard to the settlers while they were engaged
in harvesting their grain. The party under Capt. Ward embraced
the greater part of the defenders of the fort, under command of
Lieut. Edward Armstrong. Soon after the departure of Capt.
Ward's detachment, the fort was surrounded by the hostile force
of French and Indians, who immediately made an attack, which
ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 295
they continued in their skulking, Indian manner through the
afternoon and following night, but without being able to inflict
much damage on the whites. Finally, after many hours had been
spent in their unsuccessful attacks, the Indians availed themselves
of the protection afforded by a deep ravine, up which they passed
from the river bank to within twelve or fifteen yards of the fort,
and from that secure position, succeeded in setting fire to the logs
and burning out a large hole, through which they fired on the
defenders, killing the commanding officer, Lieut. Armstrong, and
one private soldier and wounding three others.
"They then demanded the surrender of the fort and garrison,
promising to spare their lives if the demand was acceded to.
Upon this, a man named John Turner, previously a resident in the
Buffalo valley, opened the gates and the besiegers at once entered
and took possession, capturing as prisoners twenty-two men,
three women and a number of children. The fort was burned by
the chief, Jacobs, by order of the French officer in command, and
the savages then departed, driving before them their prisoners,
heavily burdened with the plunder taken from the fort and the
settlers' houses, which they had robbed and burned. On their
arrival at the Indian rendezvous at Kittanning, all the prisoners
were cruelly treated, and Turner, the man who had opened the
gate at the fort to the savages, suffered the cruel death by burning
at the stake, enduring the most horrible torment that could be
inflicted upon him for a period of three hours, during which
time red hot gun barrels were forced through parts of his body,
his scalp torn from his head and burning splinters were stuck in
his flesh, until at last an Indian boy was held up for the purpose
who sunk a hatchet in the brain of the victim and so released him
from this cruel torture."
Colonel John Armstrong, brother of Lieutenant Edward Arm-
strong who was killed at the destruction of Fort Granville, wrote
Governor Morris, from Carlisle, on August 20th, giving additional
details of this event. Lieutenant Armstrong behaved with great-
est bravery to the last, "despising all the Terrors and Threats of
the Enemy, whereby they Often urged him to Surrender. Tho'
he had been near two Days without Water, but a little Ammuni-
tion left, the Fort on Fire, and the Enemy situate within twelve
or fourteen Yards of the Fort, he was as far from Yielding as
when at first attacked. A French Man in our Service, fearful of
being burned up, asked leave of the Lieutenant to treat with his
Country Men in the French Language. The Lieutenant answered,
296 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
'The First word of French you speak in this Engagement, I'll
blow your brains out,' telling his Men to hold out bravely for
the flame was falling and he would soon have it extinguished, but
soon after received the fatal Ball. The French Officers refused
the Soldiers the Liberty of interring his Corps, though it was to
be done in an instant, where they raised the Clay to quench the
Fire."
The above information came to Colonel Armstrong from Peter
Walker, one of the captives taken at Fort Granville and later
escaping. Walker had been informed by an interpreter for the
French, named McDowell, that the Indians "designed very soon
to attack Fort Shirley with four hundred men," and that "Cap-
tain Jacobs said he could take any Fort that would Catch Fire,
and would make Peace with the English when they had learned
him to make Gunpowder." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 231 to
233.)
For many years, the friendly Shawnee chief, Kishacoquillas,
lived at the mouth of the creek of this name, a few miles from
Fort Granville. He died in the summer of 1754. He was a firm
friend of Arthur Buchanan, who lived near Fort Granville.
Some of the followers of Kishacoquillas are said to have warned
Buchanan and his sons of the expected attack on the fort, en-
abling them and their families to escape to Carlisle.
The destruction of Fort Granville exposed the whole western
frontier to Indian incursions. Settlers fled in terror from the
Juniata Valley, Sherman's Valley, the Tuscarora Valley, and the
valleys of the Conococheague and Conodoguinet. Rev. Thomas
Barton, writing from Carlisle, on August 22nd, described the
dismal situation on the frontier, as follows:
"I came here this Morning, where all is Confusion. Such a
Panick has seized the Hearts of the People in general, since the
Reduction of Fort Granville, that this County is almost relin-
quished, and Marsh Creek in York [Adams] County is become a
Frontier." (Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, page 756.)
Captain Jacobs
Captain Jacobs, the destroyer of Fort Granville, was one of the
Delaware chiefs who took up arms against Pennsylvania after
Braddock's defeat. He had at one time resided near Lewistown,
where he sold lands to Colonel Buchanan, who gave him the
name of Captain Jacobs, because of his close resemblance to a
ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 297
burly German in Cumberland County. Later he resided at
"Jacob's Cabin," not far from Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland
County. His principal residence was the famous Indian town of
Kittanning, Armstrong County, which, as we have seen in an
earlier chapter, was the first town established by the Delawares
on their migration into the Allegheny Valley with the consent of
the Iroquois Confederation. From this town, he and that other
noted chief, Shingas, led many an expedition against the frontier
settlements. In our next chapter, we shall record the fate that
befell Captain Jacobs at the hands of Colonel John Armstrong.
Murders Near Brown's Fort and Fort Swatara
On August 6th, 1756, a soldier named Jacob Ellis, of Brown's
Fort, located several miles north of Grantville, Dauphin County,
desired to cut some wheat on his farm, a few miles from the fort,
and, accordingly, took with him a squad of ten soldiers as a guard.
At about ten o'clock, a band of Indians crept up on the reapers,
shot the corporal dead, and wounded another of the soldiers.
After this attack, a soldier named Brown was missing, and the
next morning his body was found near the harvest field. (Pa.
Archives, Vol. 2, pages 738, 740.)
On October 12th, 1756, a band of Shawnees entered the neigh-
borhood near where the murders of August 6th were committed.
Adam Read, writing from his stockaded residence, on Swatara
Creek, in East Hanover Township, Lebanon County, thus de-
scribes the murder of Noah Frederick, by this hostile band :
"Last Tuesday, the 12th of this Instant, ten Indians came on
Noah Frederick plowing in his Field, killed and Scalped him, and
carried away three of his Children that was with him, the eldest
but Nine Years old, plundered his House, and carried away
every thing that suited their purpose, such as Cloaths, Bread,
Butter, a Saddle and good Riffle Gun, it being but two short miles
from Captain Smith's Fort [Fort Swatara, in Union Township,
Lebanon County], at Swatawro Gap, and a little better than two
from my House." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 303.)
Noah Frederick's wife and small daughter were at the barn,
where the mother was threshing the seed wheat, when the Indians
made their appearance. They saw the murderers in time to make
their escape. The captured children, one of whom was named
Thomas, after a few days of captivity, were separated. They
never met again. Thomas was carried to the Muskingum, where
298 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
he grew up with the Indians and was given the name, Kee-saw-
so-so. He was one of the prisoners deUvered up by the Shawnees
at the close of Pontiac's War, most Hkely at Fort Pitt, on May
9th, 1765. He then went to Philadelphia, where he learned the
shoemaker trade. Several years later, he went to the neighbor-
hood where he had been captured. Here he was so fortunate as
to find his mother, who identified him by a certain scar on his
neck. He left numerous descendants, among whom is C. W.
Frederick, of Rochester, N. Y., who furnished the author with
some of the material used in this paragraph.
The above letter of Adam Read describes other atrocities in
the same neighborhood in which Noah Frederick was killed :
"Yesterday Morning, two miles from Smith's Fort, at Swataro,
in Bethel Township, as Jacob Fornwall was going from the House
of Jacob Meyler to his own, he was fired upon by two Indians
and wounded, but escaped with his life, and a little after, in the
said Township, as Frederick Henley and Peter Stample was
carrying away their Goods in Waggons, was met by a parcel of
Indians and all killed, five lying Dead in one place and one man
at a little distance, but what more is done is not come to my Hand
as yet, but that the Indians was continuing their Murders. The
Frontiers is employed in nothing but carrying ofT their Effects, so
that some Miles is now waist."
Loudon, in his "Indian Narratives," mentions the following
events, which he says took place in Dauphin County, probably in
1756. He does not give the exact location of the first, but its
scene was probably near Fort Manada, a stockade erected in the
autumn of 1755, near the east bank of Manada Creek, in East
Hanover Township, a few miles north-west of Grantville. Here
is Loudon's account:
"At another time they [the Indians] attacked a man in Dauphin
County who was endeavoring to move off in a wagon with some
others. Those in the wagon fled to a fort. The men in the fort
came to see what was happening and met a woman running
toward them crying. They then came to where the wagon stood
and behind it found the owner, a German, tomahawked and
scalped but still breathing. The next day twelve men were sent
to inform the soldiers at the next fort about eight miles distance,
but were fired upon from ambush and all but two were killed.
These two were wounded but made their escape.
"Mrs. Boggs in the same neighborhood while riding to a
neighbors house was fired upon and her horse killed and she, with
ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 299
a young child, taken prisoner. The child was badly treated and
after three days, they murdered it.
"Four men living in one house, in Paxton, erected a stockade
around it. A Captain and his company, being overtaken at
night, stopped to pass the night. They went in but had neglected
to fasten the gate. A party of Indians entered the gate and closed
it, and then called upon those in the house to open the door. The
Indians likely did not know that there were soldiers in the house.
The Captain opened the door, keeping some of his men in reserve.
When the Indians entered, they were fired upon and began to
retreat. The soldiers in reserve then pursued them, and, since
they had closed the gate of the stockade, they could not get out,
and were slain to a man."
Expedition Against Great Island and
Other Indian Strongholds
During the summer of 1756, Fort Augusta was built and
garrisoned, at Sunbury. At this fort, on October 18th of this
year, Colonel William Clapham, the commander, was informed
by Ogagradarisha, a Six Nations scout, that, as the result of a
treaty recently held by the commander of Fort Duquesne with
the Chippewas, Tawas, Twightwees (Miamis), Notowas, Dela-
wares and Shawnees, a large body of French and one thousand
Indians "were getting ready for an Expedition against this place,
and are determined to take your Fort" (Augusta). (Col. Rec,
Vol. 7, pages 299 to 302.) Colonel Clapham immediately got
ready for any attack that might be made on Fort Augusta.
Scouting parties were sent out in an endeavor to locate the French
and Indian forces. It seems that the invaders did march from
Fort Duquesne, but, probably because they learned through their
scouts that Fort Augusta and other frontier forts had received
information as to their advance, their large force was divided into
smaller bodies, which made incursions into the frontier settle-
ments.
Colonel Clapham directed Captain John Hambright, of Lan-
caster, to lead a company of thirty-eight men against the Indian
towns of Chincklacamoose (Clearfield, Clearfield County), Great
Island (Lock Haven, Clinton County) and other places on the
West Branch of the Susquehanna. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 3, pages
41 and 42). There is no doubt that Captain Hambright carried
out his instructions, but, unhappily, no records giving the details
300 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
of his expedition are to be found. In this connection, we state
that Colonel Clapham was one of the most conspicuous figures on
the frontier. In the early spring of 1763, he removed with his
family to Sewickley Creek, where the town of West Newton,
Westmoreland County, now stands. Here he and his entire
family were cruelly murdered on the afternoon of May 28, 1763, by
The Wolf, Kekuscung, and two other Indians, one of whom was
called Butler.
Massacres Near Forts Henry, Lebanon,
Northkill and Everett
On October 19, 1756, Conrad Weiser wrote Governor Denny
that the Indians had again entered Berks County, killing and
scalping two married women and a boy fourteen years old,
wounding two children about four years of age, and capturing
two more, near Fort Henry. One of the wounded children, he
said, was scalped and likely to die, while the other had two cuts
on her forehead, inflicted by an Indian when making an unsuc-
cessful attempt to scalp her. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, page 302.)
Captain Jacob Morgan, writing to Governor Denny from Fort
Lebanon, on November 4th, 1756, describes the following
murders which were committed by the Indians, near the fort on
the preceding day:
"Yesterday morning, at break of day, one of the neighbors
discovered a fire at a distance from him. He went to the top of
another mountain to take a better observation, and make a full
discovery of the fire, and supposed it to be about seven miles off,
at the house of John Finsher [Fincher]. He came and informed
me of it. I immediately detached a party of ten men (we being
but 22 men in the fort) to the place where they saw the fire at
the said Finsher's house, it being nigh Schuylkill; and the men,
anxious to see the enem_y if there, ran through the water and
bushes to the fire, where, to their disappointment, they saw none
of them, but the house, barn and other out-houses all in flames,
together with a considerable quantity of corn. They saw a great
many tracks, and followed them, and came to the house of Philip
Culmore, thinking to send from thence to alarm the other in-
habitants to be on their guard, but instead of that, found the said
Culmore's wife and daughter and son-in-law all just killed and
scalped. There is likewise missing out of the same house Martin
Fell's wife and child about one year old and another boy about
ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 301
seven years of age. The said Martin Fell was killed. It was done
just when the scouts came there, and they seeing the scouts, ran
off. The scouts divided into two parties. One came to some
other houses nigh at hand, and the other to the fort, it being
within half a mile of the fort [Fort Lebanon], to inform me. I
immediately went out with the scouts again, and left in the fort
no more than six men, but could not make any discovery, but
brought all the families to the fort, where now, I believe, we are
upward of sixty women and children that are fled here for refuge.
"And at twelve o'clock at night, I received an express from
Lieutenant Humphreys, commander at Fort Northkill, who in-
formed me that the same day, about eleven o'clock in the fore-
noon, about half a mile from his fort, as he was returning from his
scout, came upon a body of Indians to the number of twenty at
the house of Nicholas Long, where they had killed two old men
and taken another captive, and doubtless would have killed all
the family, there being nine children in the house. The Lieu-
tenant's party, though seven in number, fired upon the Indians,
and thought they killed two . . . The Lieutenant had one man
shot through the right arm and right side, but hopes not mortal,
and he had four shots through his own clothes." (Pa. Archives,
Vol. 3, pages 28, 30, 31 and 36.)
James Read, Esq., writing Governor Denny from Reading, on
November 7th, gives an account of the murders near Fort Leb-
anon, stating that the sister and mother of Mrs. Martin Fell were
scalped, the young woman not being dead when the scouts
arrived, "but insensible, and stuck in the throat as butcher's
kill a pig." The poor woman soon died.
Fort Lebanon was not far from the town of Auburn, Schuylkill
County; Fort Northkill was in upper Tulpehocken Township,
Berks County, eleven miles from Fort Lebanon; and Fort Henry
was near Millersburg, Berks County.
Near Adam Harper's fortified residence, at a place now known
as "Harper's Tavern" in East Hanover Township, Lebanon
County, hostile Indians, in October, 1756, killed five or six settlers.
They scalped a woman, a sister of Major Leidig, who neverthe-
less lived for many years thereafter. One of the families murdered
in this raid was that of Andrew Berryhill. On October 22nd,
John Craig and his wife were killed, and a boy was captured. The
next day a German settler was killed and scalped.
Timothy Horsfield, writing Governor Denny from Bethlehem,
on November 30th, 1756, which letter is reported in Pa. Archives,
302 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Vol. 3, page 77, says that, on the evening on November 28th, a
band of Indians came to the home of a settler named Schlosser,
most likely in Lynn Township, Lehigh County, killing a man
named Stonebrook and capturing a child. At first two children
were captured, but some of the men at the house fired upon the
Indians, wounding one, whereupon one of the children, a girl,
made her escape.
At the same time he informed the Governor of the attempt by
some settlers to kill one of the Christian (Moravian) Delawares,
near Bethlehem. In the terror and excitement on the frontier,
the settlers sometimes made no distinction between hostile In-
dians and friendly Indians.
Some events that took place in Lebanon County, probably in
Union Township, during the French and Indian War, and likely
in 1756, were the following:
Philip Mauer was shot dead by Indians while reaping oats.
A Mr. Noacre or Noecker was shot dead while plowing, Mathias
Boeshore fled from Indians to the house of Martin Hess. Just
as he got inside the house, he leveled his rifle at one of his pursuers,
and was in the act of pulling the trigger, when a bullet from the
rifle of one of the Indians struck that part of Boeshore's weapon,
to which the flint was attached, and glancing, wounded him in the
left side. On one occasion Indians entered the neighborhood in
great numbers, when nearly all the settlers were in their houses.
Peter Heydrich gave immediate notice to all the people to resort
to a blockhouse in the neighborhood, probably that of Martin
Hess. In the meantime, taking a fife and drum from the block-
house, he went into the woods or thicket nearby. Now beating
the drum, then blowing the fife, then again giving the word of
command in a loud and distinct voice, as if to a large force, he
managed to keep the Indians away, and collect his neighbors
safely. (Frontier Forts of Penna., Vol. 1, pages 58 and 59.)
The Prowess of Mrs. Zellers
On page 63 of Vol. I, of the "Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania,"
is the following account of the attack on the fortified home of
Heinrich Zellers, near Newmanstown, Lebanon County, some
time during the French and Indian War, probably in 1756:
"It is related of the original Mrs. Zellers that she superintended
the construction of the house, whilst her husband was out on an
expedition against the Indians, and that her laborers were colored
ATROCITIES IN THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1756 303
slaves. It is said, also, of this same Christine Zellers that one
day, whilst alone in the fort, she saw three prowling savages
approaching and heading for the small hole in the cellar shown on
the picture attached. She quickly descended the cellar steps
and stationed herself at this window with an uplifted axe. Pres-
ently the head of the first Indian protruded through the hole,
when she quickly brought down the weapon with an effective
blow. Dragging the body in, she disguised her voice and in
Indian language, beckoned his companions to follow, which they
did and were all dispatched in like manner."
As stated formerly, in this history, hundreds of the atrocities
of the French and Indian War, in Pennsylvania, will remain for-
ever unrecorded. However, the present chapter, like several that
have preceded it, gives one an idea of the horrors of the crimson
tide that flowed down from the mountains into the Pennsylvania
settlements during the first two years of this tragic period.
CHAPTER XIII
Destruction of Kittanning
September 8th, 1756
As stated, in Chapter XII, the destruction of Fort Granville
_/~\ left the frontiers of the counties of Juniata, Perry, Fulton,
Franklin and Cumberland exposed to the bloody incursions of
the Delawares and Shawnees of the valleys of the Ohio and
Allegheny, especially the Delawares of Kittanning. In Chapter
XII, also, as well as in chapters preceding it, we saw the horrors
of the incursions which these Indians made into the counties
above named — families murdered at midnight and their cabin
homes burned to ashes; parents and children captured and, in
many cases, separated forever; captives tortured to death at
Kittanning and other Indian towns; relief parties burying the
mutilated bodies of the dead amid the shades of the forest; the
pale and tear-stained faces of women, with babes in their arms,
and the anxious faces of men, fleeing in terror to the more thickly
settled parts of the Province with the war-whoop of the Indian
ringing in their ears.
In the letter written by Colonel John Armstrong, at Carlisle,
on August 20th, quoted in part, in Chapter XII, he calls attention
to the unprotected state of the Cumberland and Franklin County
frontier, as follows:
"Lyttleton, Shippensburg, and Carlisle (the last two not
finished), are the only Forts now built that will, in my Opinion,
be Serviceable to the public. McDowell's or thereabouts is a
necessary Post, but the present Fort not defencible. The Duties
of the Harvest has not admitted me to finish Carlisle Fort with
the Soldiers; it shou'd be done, and a Barrack erected within the
Fort, otherwise the Soldiers cannot be so well governed, and may
be absent or without the Gates at a time of the greatest necessity."
On the very day Colonel Armstrong's letter was written.
Governor Morris was superseded by Governor William Denny —
a change of governors at a most critical time — but, before Gover-
nor Denny's arrival, Governor Morris, in response to the cries
DESTRUCTION OF KITTANNING 305
for help from the frontier, especially from Cumberland County,
had arranged with Colonel Armstrong for an expedition against
the Indian town of Kittanning. Colonel Armstrong had urged
Governor Morris to give him permission to make this expedition,
and Benjamin Franklin had earnestly advocated this plan of
attacking this Indian stronghold from which Shingas, Captain
Jacobs and King Beaver liad led so many incursions into the
Pennsylvania settlements.
Colonel Armstrong's small army consisted of about three
hundred men, Scotch-Irish from the Cumberland Valley, divided
into seven companies whose captains were himself, Hance Hamil-
ton, Dr. Hugh Mercer, Edward Ward, Joseph Armstrong, John
Potter and Rev. John Steel. Armstrong marched from Fort
Shirley (Shirleysburg, Huntingdon County), on August 30th, and
arrived at the "Beaver Dams," near Hollidaysburg, on Septem-
ber 3d, where his forces joined the advance party. Leaving this
place on September 4th and following the Kittanning Indian
Trail, his army arrived at a point within fifty miles of Kittanning
two days later. From this point Armstrong sent out scouts to
reconnoitre the famous Delaware town and get information as to
the number of the Indians there. The day following, the scouts
returned and reported that the road was clear of the enemy, but
it appeared later that they had not been near enough the town to
learn its exact situation or the best way to approach the same.
Armstrong then continued his march. At about ten o'clock on
the night of September 7th, one of his guides reported that he had
discovered a fire by the road, a short distance ahead and within
six miles of Kittanning, with three or four Indians seated around
the fire. Deeming it not prudent to attack this party, Lieutenant
Hogg and thirteen men were left to watch them, with orders to
attack them at break of day. The main body then, making a
circuit, stole silently through the night to the Allegheny, reaching
it just before the setting of the moon, about three o'clock in the
morning, and at a point about one hundred perches below the
town. They learned the position of the town by the beating of a
drum and the whooping of the warriors at a dance.
Colonel Armstrong's Account of the Battle
We shall now let Colonel Armstrong describe the battle, quot-
ing from his report, written at Fort Littleton, on September 14th,
1756, and sent to Governor Denny:
306 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
"It then, after ascertaining the location of the town, became
us to make the best use of the remaining Moon Light, but ere we
were aware, an Indian whistled in a very singular manner, about
thirty perches from our front in the foot of a Corn Field; upon
which we immediately sat down, and after passing Silence to the
rear, I asked one Baker, a Soldier, who was our best assistant,
whether that was not a Signal to the Warriors of our Approach.
He answered no, and said it was the manner of a Young Fellow's
calling a Squaw after he had done his Dance, who accordingly
kindled a Fire, cleaned his Gun and shot it off before he went to
Sleep. All this time we were obliged to lie quiet and hush, till
the Moon was fairly set. Immediately after, a Number of Fires
appeared in different places in the Corn Field, by which Baker
said the Indians lay, the night being warm, and that these fires
would immediately be out, as they were designed to disperse the
Gnats.
"By this time it was break of Day, and the Men, having
marched thirty Miles, were most asleep; the line being long, the
Companies of the Rear were not yet brought over the last
precipice. For these, some proper Hands were immediately dis-
patched, and the weary Soldiers, being roused to their Feet, a
proper Number under sundry Officers were ordered to take the
End of the Hill, at which we then lay, and march along the top
of the said Hill at least one hundred perches, and so much further,
it then being day light, as would carry them opposite the upper
part or at least the body of the Town. For the lower part thereof
and the Corn Field, presuming the Warriors were there, I kept
rather the larger Number of the Men, promising to postpone the
Attack in that part for eighteen or twenty Minutes, until the
Detachment along the Hill should have time to advance to the
place assigned them, in doing of which they were a little un-
fortunate. The Time being elapsed, the Attack was begun in the
Corn Field, and the Men, with all Expedition possible, dispatched
thro' the several parts thereof; a party being also dispatched to
the Houses, which were then discovered by the light of the Day.
Captain Jacobs immediately gave the War-Whoop, and with
sundry other Indians, as the English Prisoners afterwards told,
cried the White Men were at last come, they would then have
Scalps enough, but at the same time ordered their Squaws and
Children to flee to the Woods.
"Our Men with great Eagerness passed thro' and fired in the
Corn Field, where they had several Returns from the Enemy, as
DESTRUCTION OF KITTANNING 307
they also had from the opposite side of the River. Presently after,
a brisk fire began among the Houses, which, from the House of
Captain Jacobs, was returned with a great deal of Resolution ; to
which place I immediately repaired, and found that from the
Advantage of the House and the Port Holes, sundry of our People
were wounded, and some killed; and finding that returning the
Fire upon the House was ineffectual, ordered the contiguous
houses to be set on fire; which was performed by sundry of the
Officers and Soldiers with a great deal of Activity, the Indians
always firing whenever an object presented itself, and seldom
missed of wounding or killing some of our People; From which
House, in moving about to give the necessary orders and direc-
tions, I received a wound from a large Musket Ball in the Shoul-
der. Sundry persons during the action were ordered to tell the
Indians to surrender themselves prisoners; but one of the Indians,
in particular, answered and said he was a Man and would not be
a Prisoner, upon which he was told in Indian he would be burnt.
To this he answered he did not care for he would kill four or five
before he died, and had we not desisted from exposing ourselves,
they would have killed a great many more, they having a number
of loaded Guns by them.
"As the fire began to approach and the Smoak grew thick, one
of the Indian Fellows, to show his manhood, began to sing. A
Squaw, in the same House, and at the same time, was heard to
cry and make Noise, but for so doing was severely rebuked by the
Men; but by and by the Fire being too hot for them, two Indian
Fellows and a Squaw sprung out and made for the Corn Field,
who were immediately shot down by our People then surrounding
the House. It was thought Captain Jacobs tumbled himself out
at a Garret or Cock Loft Window, at which he was shot, our
Prisoners offering to be qualified to the powder horn and pouch
there taken off him, which, they say, he had lately got from a
French Officer in exchange for Lieutenant Armstrong's Boots,
which he carried from Fort Granville, where the Lieutenant was
killed. The same Prisoners say they are perfectly assured of his
Scalp, as no other Indians there wore their Hair in the same
Manner. They also say they knew his Squaw's Scalp by a par-
ticular bob; and also knew the Scalp of a young Indian called the
King's Son.
"Before this time, Captain Hugh Mercer, who early in the
Action was wounded in the Arm, had been taken to the top of a
Hill above the Town, to whom a number of Men and some of
308 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the Officers were gathered, from whence they had discovered
some Indians cross the River and take the Hill with an intent, as
they thought, to surround us and cut off our retreat, from whom
I had sundry pressing Messages to leave the Houses and retreat
to the Hill or we should all be cut off; but to this could by no
means consent until all the Houses were set on fire. Tho' our
spreading upon the Hills appeared very necessary, yet did it pre-
vent our Researches of the Corn Field and River side, by which
means sundry Scalps were left behind, and doubtless some Squaws
Children and English Prisoners that otherwise might have been
got. During the burning of the Houses, which were near thirty
in number, we were agreeably entertained with a quick succes-
sion of charged Guns gradually firing off as reached by the Fire,
but much more so with the vast explosion of sundry Bags and
large Cags of Gunpowder, wherewith almost every House
abounded; the Prisoners afterwards informing that the Indians
had frequently said they had a sufficient stock of ammunition for
ten Years War with the English.
"With the roof of Captain Jacobs' House, when the powder
blew up, was thrown the Leg and Thigh of an Indian with a
Child three or four years old, such a height that they appeared as
nothing and fell in the adjacent Corn Field. There was also a
great Quantity of Goods burnt, which the Indians had received
in a present but ten days before, from the French. By this time
I had proceeded to the Hill to have my wound tyed up and the
Blood stopped, where the Prisoners, which in the Morning had
come to our People, informed me that that very day two Battoas
of French Men, with a large party of Delaware and French In-
dians, were to join Captain Jacobs at the Kittanning, and to set
out early the next Morning to take Fort Shirley, or as they called
it, George Croghan's Fort, and that twenty-four Warriors who
had lately come to the Town, were set out before them the Even-
ing before, for what purpose they did not know, whether to pre-
pare Meat, to spy the Fort, or to make an attack on some of our
back inhabitants. Soon after, upon a little Reflection, we were
convinced these Warriors were all at the Fire we had discovered
the Night before, and began to doubt the fate of Lieutenant Hogg
and his Party, from the Intelligence of the Prisoners.
"Our Provisions being scaffolded some thirty miles back, except
what were in the Men's Haversacks, which we left with the
Horses and Blankets with Lieutanant Hogg and his Party, and
a number of wounded People then on hand, by the advice of the
DESTRUCTION OF KITTANNING 309
Officers it was thought imprudent then to wait for the cutting
down the Corn Field (which was before designed), but im-
mediately to collect our Wounded and force our march back in
the best manner we could, which we did by collecting a few In-
dian horses to carry off our wounded. From the apprehension
of being waylaid (especially by some of the Woodsmen), it was
difficult to keep the men together, our march for sundry miles
not exceeding two miles an hour, which apprehensions were
heightened by the attempts of a few Indians who for some time
after the march fired upon each wing and immediately ran off,
from whom we received no other Damage but one of our men's
being wounded thro' both Legs. Captain Mercer, being wounded,
was induced, as we have reason to believe, by some of his Men, to
leave the main Body with his ensign, John Scott, and ten or
twelve men, they being heard to tell him they were in great
Danger, and that they could take him into the Road a nigh Way,
is probably lost, there being yet no Account of him; the most of
the Men come in detachment was sent back to bring him in, but
could not find him, and upon the return of the detachment, it
was generally reported he was seen with the above number of
Men taking a different Road.
"Upon our return to the place where the Indian Fire had been
discovered the Night before, we met with a Sergeant of Captain
Mercer's Company and two or three other of his Men who had
deserted us that Morning, immediately after the action at Kittan-
ning. These men, on running away, had met with Lieutenant
Hogg, who lay wounded in two different parts of his Body by the
Road side. He there told them of the fatal mistake of the Pilot,
who had assured us there were but three Indians, at the most, at
this Fire place, but when he came to attack them that Morning
according to orders, he found a number considerably superior to
his, and believes they killed and mortally wounded three of them
the first fire, after which a warm engagement began, and con-
tinued for above an Hour, when three of his best men were
killed and himself twice wounded; the residue fleeing off, he was
obliged to squat in a thicket, where he might have laid securely
until the main Body had come up, if this cowardly Sergeant and
others that fled with him had not taken him away; they had
marched but a short Space when four Indians appeared, upon
which these deserters began to flee. The Lieutenant then, not-
withstanding his wounds, as a brave Soldier, urging and com-
manding them to stand and fight, which they all refused. The
310 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Indians pursued, killing one Man and wounding the Lieutenant a
third time through the Belly, of which he died in a few Hours;
but he, having some time before been put on Horse back, rode
some miles from the place of action. But this last attack of the
Indians upon Lieutanant Hogg and the deserters was, by the
before mentioned Sergeant, represented to us in quite a different
light, he telling us that there were a far larger number of the
Indians there than appeared to them, and that he and the Men
with him had fought five Rounds; that he had there seen the
Lieutenant and sundry others killed and scalped, and had also
discovered a number of Indians throwing themselves before us,
and insinuated a great deal of such Stuff, as threw us into much
Confusion, so that the Officers had a great deal to do to keep the
Men together, but could not prevail with them to collect what
Horses and other Baggage that the Indians had left after their
Conquest of Lieutenant Hogg and the Party under his command
in the Morning, except a few of the Horses, which some of the
bravest of the Men were prevailed on to collect; so that, from the
mistake of the Pilot, who spied the Indians at the Fire, and the
cowardice of the said Sergeant and other Deserters, we have sus-
tained a considerable loss of our Horses and Baggage.
"It is impossible to ascertain the exact number of the Enemy
killed in the Action, as some were destroyed by Fire and others
in different parts of the Corn Field, but, upon a moderate Com-
putation, it is generally believed there cannot be less than thirty
or Forty killed and mortally wounded, as much Blood was found
in sundry parts of the Corn Field, and Indians seen in several
places crawl into the Weeds on their Hands and Feet, whom the
Soldiers, in pursuit of others, then overlooked, expecting to find
and scalp them afterwards; and also several killed and wounded
in crossing the River. On beginning our March back, we had
about a dozen of Scalps and eleven English Prisoners, but now
find that four or five of the Scalps are missing, part of which
were lost on the Road and part in possession of those Men who,
with Captain Mercer, separated from the main Body, with whom
also went four of the Prisoners, the other seven being now at this
place [Fort Littleton], where we arrived on Sunday Night, not
being ever separated or attacked thro' our whole March by the
Enemy, tho' we expected it every Day. Upon the whole, had our
Pilots understood the true situation of the town and the paths
leading to it, so as to have posted us at a convenient place, where
the disposition of the Men and the Duty assigned to them could
DESTRUCTION OF KITTANNING 311
have been performed with greater Advantage, we had, by divine
Assistance, destroyed a much greater Number of the Enemy,
recovered more Prisoners, and sustained less damage than what
we at present have; but tho' the Advantage gained over these,
our Common Enemy, is far from being satisfactory to us, must
we not despise the smallest degrees of Success that God has
pleased to give, especially at a time of such general Calamity,
when the attempts of our Enemys have been so prevalent and
successful." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 257 to 263.)
Such is the account of the destruction of Kittanning, written
by the leader of the heroic men who inflicted this telling blow
upon the Indians. Hitherto the English had not attacked the
Indians in their towns, which led the leaders of the bloody incur-
sions to fancy that the settlers would not venture to follow them
into their western strongholds. But now the Western Delawares
dreaded that, when absent on incursions into the settlements,
their wigwams might be burned to ashes by the outraged frontiers-
men. From now on, they feared Colonel Armstrong and his
Scotch-Irish troops. Most of the Indians, therefore, left Kit-
tanning, refusing to settle east of Fort Duquesne, and determined
to place this fort between them and the English. They went to
Logstown, located on the north bank of the Ohio, just below the
site of the present town of Ambridge, Beaver County; to Sau-
conk, located at or near the mouth of the Beaver, and known also
as Shingas' Old Town and King Beaver's Town ; to Kuskuskies,
a group of villages whose centre was at or near the present city
of New Castle; to Shenango, located on the river of this name,
a short distance below the present town of Sharon, Mercer
County, and to other towns in the western region. However,
Kittanning was not deserted, though it ceased to be a gathering
place for the hostile Delawares during the French and Indian
War. As we saw in Chapter XII and as we shall see in subsequent
chapters, the destruction of Kittanning did not put an end to
the Indian raids. But it did have a great moral effect. It struck
fear into the hearts of the Indians, and it caused the forntiersmen
to have confidence in their ability to meet the Indians on their
own ground and defeat them.
"The corporation of Philadelphia, on occasion of this victory,
on the 5th of January following, addressed a complimentary letter
to Colonel Armstrong, thanking him and his ofhcers for their
gallant conduct, and presented him with a piece of plate. A medal
was also struck, having for device an officer followed by two sol-
312 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
diers, the officer pointing to a soldier shooting from behind a tree,
and an Indian prostrate before him; in the background Indian
houses in flames. Legend: Kittanning, destroyed by Colonel
Armstrong, September the 8th, 1756. Reverse device: The Arms
of the corporation. Legend : The gift of the corporation of Phila-
delphia."— Egle's "History of Pennsylvania."
The report of the explosion of the magazine at Kittanning was
heard at Fort Duquesne, upon which some French and Indians
set off from that place to Captain Jacobs' stronghold, but did
not reach the town until the next day. They found among the
ruins the blackened bodies of the fallen chieftain, his wife and his
son. Robert Robinson says in his Narrative that a boy named
Crawford, then a captive among the Delawares, told him that he
accompanied the French and Indians on this occasion. He also
says that, after Armstrong's forces had returned to the east side
of the Allegheny Mountains, one of his soldiers, named Samuel
Chambers, disregarding the advice of the Colonel, went back to
the "Clear Fields," in Clearfield Township, Cambria County, to
get his coat and three horses; that, at the top of the mountain,
he was fired upon by Indians, and then fled towards the Great
Island; and that the Indians pursued him, and, on the third day,
killed him on French Margaret's Island, as they later told Cap-
tain Patterson.
Many blankets of Armstrong's soldiers were afterwards found
on the ground where Lieutenant Hogg and his party were de-
feated. Hence this place has ever since been called "Blanket
Hill." It is in Kittanning Township, Armstrong County.
List of the Slain — The English Prisoners
Colonel Armstrong's report of the destruction of Kittanning is
also found in Pa. Archives, Vol. 2, pages 767 to 775, with a list of
the killed, wounded and missing, as well as a list of the English
prisoners recovered. This list is as follows:
"Lieutenant-Colonel John Armstrong's Company — killed;
Thomas Power and John McCormick. Wounded: Lieutenant-
Colonel John Armstrong, James Carruthers, James Strickland
and Thomas Foster.
Captain Hance Hamilton's Company — Killed: John Kelley.
Captain Hugh Mercer's Company — Killed : John Baker, John
McCartney, Patrick Mullen, Cornelius McGinnis, Theophilus
Thompson, Dennis Kilpatrick and Bryan Carrigan. Wounded:
Marker at the Site of the Delaware Indian Town of Kittanning. near the bridge across the Allegheny
River, at Kittanning, Pa.
In the foreground Chief Strong Wolf, of the Ojibway Tribe, and Hon. James W. King, President
of the Armstrong County Historical Society.
From a photograph taken on the occasion of the dedication of the Marker, September 8th, 1926,
the One Hundred and Seventieth Anniversary of the Destruction of Kittanning by Colonel John
Armstrong.
DESTRUCTION OF KITTANNING 313
Richard Fitzgibbins. Missing: John Taylor, John — , Francis
PhilHps, Robert Morrow, Thomas Burk and PhiUp Pendergrass.
Captain Joseph Armstrong's Company — Killed: Lieutenant
James Hogg, James Anderson, Holdcraft Stringer, Edward
Obrians, James Higgins and John Lasson. Wounded: William
Findley, Robert Robinson, John Ferrol, Thos. Camplin and
Charles O'Neal. Missing: John Lewis, William Hunter, William
Baker, George Appleby, Anthony Grissy and Thos. Swan.
Captain Edward Ward's Company — Killed: William Welch.
Wounded: Ephriam Bratten. Missing: Patrick Myers, Lawr-
ence Donnahow and Samuel Chambers.
Captain John Potter's Company — Wounded: Ensign James
Potter and Andrew Douglass.
Captain John Steel's Company — Missing: Terrence Canna-
berry."
The English prisoners recovered from the Indians at the de-
struction of Kittanning were:
Ann McCord, wife of John McCord, and Martha Thorn, a
child seven years of age, both captured at Fort McCord, on April
1st, 1756; Barbara Hicks, captured at ConoUoways; Catherine
Smith, a German child captured near Shamokin; Margaret Hood,
captured near the mouth of the Conococheague, Maryland;
Thomas Girty, captured at Fort Granville; Sarah Kelly, captured
near Winchester, Virginia; a woman, a boy, and two little girls,
who were with Captain Mercer and Ensign Scott, and had not
reached Fort Littleton when Colonel Armstrong made his report.
Barbara Leininger and Marie Le Roy, who, it will be recalled,
were captured at the Penn's Creek massacre of October 16th,
1755, were prisoners among the Indians at Kittanning at the time
when Colonel Armstrong destroyed the town. However, they
were on the other (west) side of the river at the time the attack
began, and were then taken ten miles back into the interior, in
order that they might not have a chance to escape. After Arm-
strong's forces had withdrawn, Barbara and Marie were brought
back to the ruins of the town. Here they witnessed the torture
of a woman who had attempted to escape with Armstrong's
troops, but was recaptured. An English renegade ate a piece of
the woman's flesh.
After describing the torture of the woman, Barbara and Marie,
in their Narrative, relate the following:
"Three days later an Englishman was brought in, who had like-
wise attempted to escape with Col. Armstrong, and he was burned
314 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
alive in the same village. His torments, however, continued only
about three hours; but his screams were frightful to listen to. It
rained that day very hard, so that the Indians could not keep
up the fire. Hence they began to discharge gunpowder at his
body. At last, amidst his worst pains, when the poor man called
for a drink of water, they brought melted lead, and poured it
down his throat. This draught at once helped him out of the
hands of the barbarians, for he died on the instant."
Relatives of Captain Jacobs, who were also killed at the de-
struction of Kittanning, are mentioned in a letter written at
Carlisle, on December 22nd, 1756, by Adam Stephen: "A son of
Captain Jacobs is kill'd and a Cousin of his about seven foot high,
call'd young Jacob, at the Destroying of the Kittanning." (Pa.
Archives, Vol. 3, page 83.) Probably another relative was the
Delaware Chief, called Captain Jacobs, who attended the con-
ference held at Fort Pitt in April and May, 1768. (Pa. Col.
Rec. Vol. 9, page 543.)
A Retrospect
The author was born and reared within ten miles of Kittanning.
Often he has stood on the river hill above the site of the former
Indian town, and contemplated its history. On these occasions,
the past rose before him, as a dream. He could see the Dela-
wares, in the course of their westward migration, as early as 1724,
floating down the beautiful Allegheny, in their canoes, from the
mouth of the Mahoning, and erecting their wigwams on the wide
flats, naming the town "Kittanning," that is Kit, "great";
hanna, "a stream"; ing, "at, or at the place of" — "at the great
river." He could see Jonas Davenport, James Le Tort and other
traders, a few years later, visit the place and barter with the
Indians, giving them rum, powder, lead, guns, knives and blankets
in exchange for skins and furs. He could see French emisaries
holding councils with the Indians here, as early as 1727, and for
many years thereafter. He could see Celoron visit the town, in
the summer of 1749. He could see the clouds of war gathering
over the valley for many years, and finally breaking in a storm of
fury, in the autumn of 1755. He could see Shingas, King Beaver
and Captain Jacobs holding their councils of war here, far into
the night, and inflaming the wild passions of the warriors as the
council fire lit up their savage features, and as their shouts echoed
from hill to hill. He could see bands of warriors go forth from the
town on bloody incursions into the settlements of Pennsylvania,
DESTRUCTION OF KITTANNING 315
Mar\'land and Virginia, and return with sorrowing, sad-faced
captives and the bloody scalps of the slain. He could see hun-
dreds of these captives tortured to death — burned to death, tied
to the black post in the village. He could see their bodies pierced
with red-hot gun barrels and their bloody scalps torn from their
heads. He could hear their agonizing cries and see the fiendish
looks of their tormentors. He could see Colonel John Armstrong's
forces wend their way silently over the forest-covered mountains,
and, in the early hours of that September morning, visit retribu-
tion and vengeance on Captain Jacobs and his warriors. He could
see the village sink in flames, and hear the death chants of the
warriors, as they perished in the fire. He could see the Indian
women and children fleeing in terror to the forest, as their hus-
bands, fathers and brothers were shot down or burned to death,
by the frontiersmen, or dragged themselves into the forest to die
of their wounds. He could see many of the survivors return, and
erect their wigwams amid the ashes of their former homes. He
could see hundreds of warriors assemble here, to march against
Colonel Bouquet, in the summer of 1763. He could see the Eighth
Pennsylvania Regiment assemble here in the latter days of 1776.
He could see Fort Armstrong erected, a short distance below the
village, in the summer of 1779, and Colonel Daniel Brodhead's
army march past the place, in the same summer, on its way to
attack the Senecas and Munsees. He could see the Indians once
more assemble here, to march against Hannastown, in the summer
of 1782. He could see the Indian finally depart from this ancient
seat, and float in his canoe down the "Ohio" of the Senecas, the
"La Belle Riviere" of the French and "The Beautiful River" of
the English — terms that mean the same — to the "Land of the
Lost Ones." He could see the pioneers, with their rifles and axes,
entering the valley and erecting their cabin homes. He could
see the Kittanning of the white man rise where the Kittanning of
the Indian had stood for so many years, in the valley of the
beautiful and historic Allegheny. As he stood on the river hill
and gazed into the valley below, the past rose before him, as a
dream, and these things passed before him, as a panorama.
Captain Hugh Mercer
As was seen earlier in this chapter, Captain Hugh Mercer was
wounded in the engagement at Kittanning. Unhappily he was
persuaded by some of his men to leave the main party. These
316 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
men were old traders, and they proposed to conduct Captain
Mercer by a nearer route to the settlements than the Kittanning
Indian Trail, by which the army of Colonel Armstrong had come
to the famous Indian town. Presently Mercer's party fell in
with the Indians with whom Lieutenant Hogg had the engage-
ment in the morning, and some of the Captain's companions were
killed. Mercer made his escape with two others. In a short time,
he and these two halted in order to adjust the bandage on his arm.
At this moment an Indian was seen approaching, whereupon
Mercer's two companions, sprang upon the horse from which he
had just alighted, and hurried away, abandoning him. He hastily
concealed himself behind a log overgrown with weeds. The
Indian approached to within a few feet of where he lay, when,
seeing the other two hurrying away on horseback, he uttered the
war-whoop, and ran after them.
The wounded captain soon crawled from his place of con-
cealment, and descended into a plum-tree bottom, where he re-
freshed himself with the fruit and remained until night. Then he
began his terrible journey over the mountains to the settlements,
a journey which consumed an entire month, and during which he
became so ravenously hungry that he killed and ate a rattle-snake
raw. Reaching the west side of the Allegheny Mountain, he
discovered a person whom he supposed to be an Indian. Both
took to trees, and remained in this position a long time. At
length Captain Mercer concluded to go forward and meet his
enemy; but when he came near, he found the other to be one of
his own men. The two then proceeded on over the mountain, so
weak that they could scarcely walk. Near Frankstown, the
soldier sank down with the expectation never more to rise. Cap-
tain Mercer then struggled about seven miles further, when he,
too, lay down on the leaves, abandoning all hope of reaching the
settlements. At this time, a band of Cherokees in the British
service, coming from Fort Littleton on a scouting expedition,
found the exhausted captain, and a little later, the soldier, and
carried them safely to the fort on a bier of their own making. The
Cherokees had taken fourteen scalps on this scouting expedition.
We shall meet Captain Mercer several places in this history.
He became one of Washington's able generals in the Revolu-
tionary War, and laid down his life on the bloody battlefield of
Princeton that liberty might live. Mercersburg and Mercer
County are named for him.
DESTRUCTION OF KITTANNING 317
The Girtys
As stated earlier in this chapter, Thomas Girty, who was
captured at Fort Granville, was one of the English prisoners re-
covered by Colonel Armstrong at the destruction of Kittanning.
The family to which he belonged figured prominently in the
Indian history of Pennsylvania, not as defenders of the Province
but as allies of the hostile Indians.
Reference was made, in a former chapter, to the fact that
Simon Girty, Sr., an Irish trader, was one of the squatters whom
the Provincial Authorities compelled to remove, in 1750, from
lands not yet purchased from the Indians, north of the Blue or
Kittatinny Mountains. He was an Indian trader, and had settled
on Sherman's Creek, in Perry County, about 1740. Here his
son, Simon, who figured notoriously in the annals of border life,
was born, January 16th, 1744. After the elder Girty was com-
pelled to remove from Sherman's Creek, he settled on the east
side of the Susquehanna River, near where the town of Halifax
now stands. Here he was killed in a drunken brawl, it is said, by
his wife's paramour, John Turner. Here his widow married John
Turner, and soon thereafter they removed to the Buffalo Valley,
Union County. About 1755, the family, consisting of Mr. and
Mrs. Turner, their infant son, John Turner, Jr., and the four sons
of Simon Girty, Sr. — Simon, James, George and Thomas — re-
moved to the vicinity of Fort Granville. The whole family was
captured at the destruction of the fort, by Captain Jacobs. John
Turner, it will be recalled, was the person who opened the gates
of the fort to the enemy, and was later tortured to death at
Kittanning, in the presence of his wife, his son, John Turner, Jr.,
and the four sons of Simon Girty, the elder, all the family having
been taken to Kittanning by their captors.*
Thomas Girty was the only member of the family liberated by
Colonel John Armstrong, when his forces destroyed Kittanning.
Mrs. Turner and her son, John, then a child less than three years
of age, were taken to Fort Duquesne, where the child was baptized
on August 18th, 1756, by the Reverend Baron, chaplain of the
Roman Catholic chapel at the post. This John Turner was
liberated by Colonel Bouquet in the autumn of 1764, and then
joined his mother at Fort Pitt, to which place she seems to have
made her escape. During the Revolutionary War, he fought on
the American side, although his half-brothers, Simon, George and
♦Theodore Roosevelt, in his "Winning of the West," erroneously says that Simon Girty,
Sr., was tortured to death at Kittanning.
318 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
James Girty, early espoused the British cause. He died in Pitts-
burgh at an advanced age.
Simon, the most notorious of the Girty brothers, was adopted
by the Senecas, and given the name of Katepacomen. He soon
became in dress, language and habits a thorough Indian, and
lived among the Indians continuously until Colonel Henry Bou-
quet led his army to the Muskingum in the autumn of 1764 and
liberated over two hundred white captives. Among these was
Simon Girty. Brought back to Fort Pitt, he took up his residence
on a little run, emptying into the Allegheny from the west a few
miles above Fort Pitt, and since known as Girty's Run. In Lord
Dunmore's war of 1774, he, in company with Simon Kenton,
served as a scout. He subsequently acted as an Indian agent, and
became well acquainted with Colonel William Crawford, at whose
cabin on the Youghiogheny, where Connellsville now stands, he
was a frequent and welcome guest. On the outbreak of the Rev-
olution, he was commissioned an officer of militia at Fort Pitt,
but on March 28, 1778, deserted to the British, in company with
Alexander McKee and Matthew Elliott.
The atrocities committed by Simon Girty after he deserted to
the British fill many pages of border annals. His name became a
terror in the frontier cabin, causing the mother's cheek to blanch
and the children to tremble with fear. He fully earned the name
given him by Heckewelder — the "White Savage." His brutality
reached its climax when he viewed with apparent satisfaction
the burning of his former friend, Colonel William Crawford, at
the stake, in the summer of 1782, as will be related in a subse-
quent chapter. On one occassion he committed a hostile act
against the Americans shortly after the Revolutionary War was
proclaimed at an end. This was the capture of a lad, named
John Burkhart, at the mouth of Nine Mile Run, near Pittsburgh,
in May, 1783, by a war party of Indians led by him. The guns
of Fort Pitt were firing at the very time of the boy's capture, on
account of the reception of the news that Washington had dis-
charged the American Army on April 19th, and announced that
the long war was over. This fact was made known to Girty by
the boy; yet he was carried to Detroit. However, he was well
treated by Girty, and, in July, was permitted by Colonel De
Peyster, then commandant at Detroit, to return to his friends.
In the defeat of General St. Clair's army in the autumn of
1791, as will be related in a subsequent chapter, the "White
Savage" saw and knew General Richard Butler, who was writhing
According to Butterfield: Simon Girty, Sr. was killed by an Indian named "The Fish", who
was later killed by John Turner; Simon, Jr., bom in 1741, died, Feb. 18, 1818; James, bom in
1743, died at Goshfield, Canada, Apr. IS, 1817; George, born in 1745, died near Ft. Wayne
prior to 1812; Thomas, born in 1739, died in Pittsburgh, Nov. 3, 1820; Simon, Jr., James,
George, Mrs. Turner and her son, John, delivered up at Fort Pitt, in 1759.
DESTRUCTION OF KITTANNING 319
in the agony of his wounds. Girty told an Indian warrior that
General Butler was a high officer, whereupon the Indian buried
his tomahawk in the unfortunate General's skull, scalped him,
took his heart out, and divided it into as many pieces as there
were tribes in the battle in which St. Clair went down to over-
whelming and inglorious defeat.
There is no doubt, however, that Simon Girty was blamed for
many atrocities of v.hich he was innocent, especially atrocities
committed by his brothers George and James. At times, too,
when sober, he was moved by considerations of humanity, as
when he saved his friend, Simon Kenton, from death at the hands
of the Indians, and when he caused Mrs. Thomas Cunningham, of
West Virginia, to be returned to her husband, after her son had
been tomahawked and scalped and her little daughter's brains
dashed out against a tree, in her presence. Such occasional
gleamings of his better nature stand out in strong relief against a
career of outrage, blood and death.
After General Anthony Wayne defeated the western tribes at
the battle of the Fallen Timbers in August, 1794, Simon Girty
removed to Canada, where he settled on a small farm, near
Maiden, on the Detroit River and became the recipient of a
British pension. Here he resided, undisturbed and almost blind,
until the War of 1812. After the capture of the British fleet on
Lake Erie by Commodore Perry, in this war, Girty followed the
British in retreat, and remained away from home until the treaty
of peace was signed. Then he returned to his farm, where he
died in 1815 — the passing of the most notorious renegade of the
Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Ohio borders. Girty's Gap, or
Girty's Notch, on the west side of the Susquehanna, a few miles
below Liverpool, Perry County, is named for him. At this place
the rocks of the precipitous river hill form almost a perfect Indian
head, a wonderful likeness in stone of the primitive American
race.
George Girty was adopted by the Delawares. and became a
terror to the Pennsylvania and Ohio frontiers. As will be seen in
a subsequent chapter, he was among the Indian forces which
ambushed Colonel Lochry's troops in the summer of 1781.
James Girty was one of the messengers sent to the Shawnees,
in the summer of 1778, in an effort to have this tribe join with
the Delawares in an alliance with the Americans, at a treaty at
Fort Pitt, in that year. He did not return from this mission, but
deserted the Americans, was adopted by the Shawnees, and be-
came an infamous and blood-thirsty raider of the Kentucky
320 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
frontier, "not sparing even women and children from horrid
tortures."
Simon, George and James Girty were underHngs of Henry
Hamilton, the British "Hair Buyer General," who was in com-
mand at Detroit during a large part of the Revolutionary War,
and had charge of operations against the western frontier. Hamil-
ton was so named by the Americans on account of his giving his
Indian allies rewards for American scalps, even the scalps of
women and children.
Thomas Girty was the best of the four brothers. He took no
part in raids against the Americans, but served his Country
loyally. For many years he made his home near Fort Pitt, and
was living in Pittsburgh in May, 1782, at which time he joined
with other inhabitants of the town in a petition to General
William Irvine, asking that the General order the soldiers of Fort
Pitt to discontinue their practice of "playing at long bullets" in
the streets, and thus endangering the lives of the children of the
petitioners. This petition was granted.
Some time prior to 1800, Thomas Girty took up a tract of
four hundred acres of land, a few miles south of Prospect, Butler
County. Some authorities say he lived here until his death,
which, they say, occurred prior to 1803, while other authorities
say he died in Pittsburgh, on November 3d, 1820. Whateve
may be the fact as to the time of the death of Thomas Girty, «'
settler, named David Kerr, laid claim to the Girty land, and, oni
evening in 1803, came to the cabin when no one was there excep
Ann Girty, wife of Thomas, and fatally shot her. Kerr had come
for the purpose of ejecting Mrs. Girty. During the argument,
which took place between them, Mrs. Girty struck Kerr in the
face with a clapboard with which she was raking the fire, where-
upon he shot her in the breast with his pistol. She died of the
wound several weeks later. Kerr was never brought to justice
for his crime, on account of the stigma attaching to the Girty
name, and, for the same reason, the body of poor Ann Girty was
refused burial in the Mount Nebo Presbyterian cemetery near
her home. She was laid to rest in the forest, where the author
has often seen her grave. Yet, the Butler County settlers bore
testimony to the fact that the family of Thomas Girty were good
and peaceable neighbors. Thomas Girty, Jr., lived on the Butler
County plantation for some years after his mother's death. On
December 26th, 1807, he sold all his interest in the farm to
Thomas Ferree, for a consideration of one hundred dollars, the
instrument being recorded in the ofiice of the recorder of deeds in
and for Butler County, in deed book A, page 558.
CHAPTER XIV
Eflforts for Peace in 1756
THE declaration of war against the Delawares and Shawnees
was very distasteful to the Quaker members of the Provincial
Assembly. They believed that these tribes would not have taken
up arms against the Province without a reason. Furthermore,
they believed that adequate efforts had not been made towards
reconciliation before war was declared. Without going into
details, we state that, a few days after war was declared, Israel
Pemberton waited upon Governor Morris on behalf of numerous
members of the Society of Friends, and, as a result, Canachquasy,
or Captain New Castle, was sent to the Delawares and Shawnees
of the Susquehanna with overtures of peace, while Scarouady
was sent to the territory of the Six Nations and to Sir William
Johnson to acquaint them with the efforts Pennsylvania was in-
stituting to bring about peace with the Delawares and Shawnees.
(Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 103 to 109.)
Canachquasy spent four days at Wyoming, and then went on
to Tioga, an important town of the Six Nations, Nanticokes, and
Munsee Clan of Delawares, situated on the site of Athens, Brad-
ford County. It was the southern gateway to the country of the
Iroquois, and all the great war paths and hunting trails from the
South and Southwest centered there. He held conferences with
the Indians of this place and the surrounding towns, and made
known to them the Governor's message. These Indians agreed to
lay aside the hatchet and enter into negotiations for peace; but
they cautioned Canachquasy not to charge them with anything
that may have been done by the Delawares of the Ohio and Alle-
gheny Valleys under the influence of the French.
Canachquasy then returned to Philadelphia early in June, and
laid his report before the Governor and Provincial Council. The
Governor and Council, upon hearing the favorable report, drafted
a proclamation for a suspension of hostilities with the enemy
Indians of the Susquehanna Valley for a period of thirty days, and
desired that a conference with them for the purpose of making
322 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
peace, should be held at the earliest possible date. (Pa. Col. Rec,
Vol. 7, pages 137 to 142).
Canachquasy then left once more for Tioga, bearing the
Governor's message, advising the Susquehanna Indians that the
Colony would agree to a truce of thirty days and that, as one of
the conditions of making peace, the prisoners taken on both sides
should be delivered up. Shortly after he left, messengers were
sent to him by the Governor carrying a few additional instruc-
tions, which were delivered to him at Bethlehem. In the mean-
time. Sir William Johnson, of New York, was holding a peace con-
ference with the Six Nations at Otseningo, at which the assembled
sachems of the Iroquois decided that the Delawares were acting
like drunken men, and sent deputies to order them to become
sober and cease their warfare against the English. This con-
ference was composed of only a portion of the Iroquois, and the
Delawares replied very haughtily saying that they were no longer
women but men. "We are determined," said they, "to cut off all
the English except those that make their escape from us in ships."
After a dangerous journey over the mountains and through the
wilderness, Canachquasy reached Tioga, held conferences with
the great Delaware chieftain, Teedyuscung, and persuaded him
to bury the hatchet, — a most remarkable victory.
First Conference with Teedyuscung
Canachquasy then returned to Philadelphia in the middle of
July, 1756, and laid before the Governor and Provincial Council
the results of his second mission to Tioga.
Immediately upon Canachquasy's return to Philadelphia from
his second mission to Tioga, arrangements were made for a con-
ference with Teedyuscung at Easton, which place Governor
Morris with the Provincial Council, reached on July 24, 1756.
The conference formally opened on July 28th, Conrad Weiser in
the meantime having posted his troops in the vicinity of Easton.
Teedyuscung and the fourteen other chiefs accompanying him
were formally welcomed by Governor Morris. Teedyuscung made
the following reply:
"Last spring you sent me a string [of wampum], and as soon
as I heard the good words you sent, I was glad, and as you told us,
we believed it came from your hearts. So we felt it in our hearts
and received what you said with joy. The first messages you
sent me came in the spring; they touched my heart; they gave me
EFFORTS FOR PEACE, IN 1756 323
abundance of joy. You have kindled a council fire at Easton.
I have been here several days smoking my pipe in patience, wait-
ing to hear your good words. Abundant confusion has of late
years been rife among the Indians, because of their loose ways of
doing business. False leaders have deceived the people. It has
bred quarrels and heart-burnings among my people.
"The Delaware is no longer the slave of the Six Nations. I,
Teedyuscung, have been appointed King over the Five United
Nations [meaning the three Clans of Delawares, the Shawnees
and the Nanticokes], and representative of the Five Iroquois
Nations. What I do here will be approved by all. This is a good
day; whoever will make peace, let him lay hold of this belt, and
the nations around shall see and know it. I desire to conduct
myself according to your words, which I will perform to the ut-
most of my power. I wish the same good that possessed the good
old man, William Penn, who was the friend to the Indian, may
inspire the people of this Province at this time."
In the conferences that followed, the Governor insisted that, as
a condition for peace, Teedyuscung and the Indians under his
command should return all the prisoners that they had captured
since taking up arms against the Colony; and Teedyuscung in-
sisted that his people on the Susquehanna were not responsible
for the actions of the Delawares and Shawnees on the Ohio. But,
inasmuch as only a small delegation of chiefs had accompanied
Teedyuscung to Easton, it was desired that he and Canachquasy
should go back among the Indians, give the "Big Peace Halloo,"
and gather their followers together for a larger peace conference
that would be more representative of the Indians, and to be held
in the near future.
The Governor then gave Teedyuscung a present, informing
him that a part of it "was given by the people called Quakers, who
are descendants of those who first came over to this country with
your old friend, William Penn, as a particular testimony of their
regard and affection for the Indians, and their earnest desire to
promote the good work of peace, in which we are now engaged."
This first peace conference with Teedyuscung, at Easton,
closed on July 31st, 1756, the very day the Delaware chief,
Captain J acobs, attacked Fort Granville. A full account of the
conference is found in Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 204 to 220.
After the conference, Teedyuscung and Canachquasy, as stated
above, started to give the "Big Peace Halloo" among the hostile
tribes, but Teedyuscung remained for a time at Fort Allen, where
324 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
he secured liquor and remained intoxicated for a considerable
time. Lieutenant Miller was in charge of the fort at this time,
and Teedyuscung brought sixteen deer skins which he said
he was going to present to the Governor "to make him a pair of
gloves." Lieutenant Miller insisted that one skin was enough to
make the Governor a pair of gloves, and after supplying Teedy-
uscung liberally with rum, he secured from him the entire sixteen
deer skins for only three pounds. The sale was made while the
chief was intoxicated, and afterwards he remained at the fort
demanding more rum, which Miller supplied, Canachquasy in
the meantime having gone away in disgust.
On August 21st, Teedyuscung and his retinue went to Bethle-
hem, where his wife, Elizabeth, and her three children desired to
remain while the "King" went on an expedition to the Minisinks,
for the purpose of putting a stop to some depredations which they
were committing in New Jersey. Returning from this expedition,
he went to Wyoming, where he sent word to Major Parsons at
Easton requesting that his wife and children be sent to join him.
Upon Parson's making known the King's desire, the wife deter-
mined to stay at Bethlehem. He then made frequent visits to
this place, much to the annoyance of the Moravian missionaries.
When the Provincial Authorities learned of the cause of Teedy-
uscung's detention at Fort Allen, Lieutenant Miller was dis-
charged, and Teedyuscung went to Wyoming, thence up the
North Branch of the Susquehanna, persuading the Indians to lay
down their arms, and to send deputies to a second conference to
be held at Easton, in October. However, in the meantime,
Governor William Denny, who succeeded Governor Morris in
August, becoming suspicious of the chief's long delay at Forf
Allen and being influenced, no doubt by the statements of many
Indians on the border that Teedyuscung was not sincere in his
peace professions, that he was a traitor, and that the Easton con-
ference was but a ruse to gain time, sent Canachquasy secretly to
New York to ascertain from the Six Nations whether or not they
had deputized Teedyuscung to represent them in important
treaties. Canachquasy returned, on October 24th, with the re-
port that the Six Nations denied Teedyuscung's authority. Ap-
pearing before the Provincial Council, he gave the following
report :
"I have but in part executed my commission, not having op-
portunity of having done it so fully as I wished. I met with
Canyase, one of the principal counsellors of the Six Nations, a
EFFORTS FOR PEACE, IN 1756 325
Mohawk chief, who has a regard for Pennsylvania ... I related
to this chief very particularly the manner in which Teedyuscung
spoke of himself and his commission and authority from the Six
Nations at the treaty at Easton. I gave him a true notion of all
he said on this head and how often he repeated it to the Governor,
and then asked whether he knew anything of this matter. Canyase
said he did; Teedyuscung did not speak the truth when he told
the Governor he had a regular authority from the Six Nations to
treat with Onas. Canyase then proceeded and said: 'Teedy-
uscung on behalf of the Delawares did apply to me as chief of the
Six Nations. He and I had long discourses together and in these
conversations, I told him that the Delawares were women and
always treated as such by the Six Nations.' " (Pa. Col. Rec,
Vol. 7, pages 296 to 298.)
Governor Denny endeavored to have Teedyuscung attend a
conference in Philadelphia, in an effort to continue the peace
work begun at the Easton Conference of July of that year. Teedy-
uscung sent the following reply by Conrad Weiser to Governor
Denny's invitation: "Brother, you remember very well that in
time of darkness and danger, I came in here at your invitation.
At Easton, we kindled a small council fire ... If you should
put out this little fire, our enemies will call it only a jack lantern,
kindled on purpose to deceive those who approach it. Brother,
I think it by no means advisable to put out this little fire, but
rather to put more sticks upon it, and I desire that you will come
to it [at Easton] as soon as possible, bringing your old and wise
men along with you, and we shall be very glad to see you here."
Second Conference with Teedyuscung
Upon Teedyuscung's refusal to go to Philadelphia, Governor
Denny decided to meet the chief at Easton, where the second
great conference with him and the Indians under his command
opened on November 8, 1756. "The Governor marched from his
lodgings to the place of conference, guarded by a party of Royal
Americans on the front and on the flanks, and a detachment of
Colonel Conrad Weiser's provincials in subdivisions in the rear,
with colors flying, drums beating, and music playing, which order
was always observed in going to the place of conference." Says
Dr. George P. Donehoo, in his "Pennsylvania — A History":
"Teedyuscung opened the council with a speech and with all
of the usual formalities of an Indian council. This Indian chief,
326 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
called a 'King', was a most gifted orator and talented diplomat.
His one most bitter enemy was his own vice of drunkenness which
led to all of his troubles and to his death. The one marvel about
him was that when he had been on a drunken spree all night and
kept so by his enemies, he would appear the next day with a clear
head, fully fit to deal with all of the complex problems which
arose. His foes among the Indians and among the English kept
him filled with rum in the hope that he could be rendered so
drunk that he could not attend to his business. He would sleep
out all night, under a shed, anywhere, in a drunken stupor, and
appear the next day with a clear head and an eloquent tongue to
'fight for peace, at any price.' In his opening address, in referring
to the tales which had been told about him he says: 'Many idle
reports are spread by foolish and busy people; I agree with you
that on both sides they ought to be no more regarded than the
chirping of birds in the woods.' What great orator today could
express himself more perfectly and beautifully?"
Teedyuscung Charges That Delawares Were
Defrauded Out of Their Lands
Governor Denny in his reply to Teedyuscung's speech, asked
him why the Delawares had gone to war against the English.
Teedyuscung in his reply stated that great injustice had been
done the Delawares in various land purchases. The Governor
then asked him to be specific in his statements and point out what
land sales, in his opinion, had been unjust. Then Teedyuscung
stamped his foot upon the ground and made the following heated
reply :
"I have not far to go for an instance; this very ground that is
under me [striking it with his foot] was my land and inheritance,
and is taken from me by fraud. When I say this ground, I mean
all the land lying between Tohiccon Creek and Wyoming, on the
River Susquehannah. I have not only been served so in this
Government, but the same thing has been done to me as to several
tracts in New Jersey over the River. When I have sold lands
fairly, I look upon them to be really sold. A bargain is a bargain.
Tho' I have sometimes had nothing for the lands I have sold but
broken pipes or such triffles, yet when I have sold them, tho' for
such triffles, I look upon the bargain to be good. Yet I think
that I should not be ill used on this account by those very people
who have had such an advantage in their purchases, nor be called
EFFORTS FOR PEACE, IN 1756 327
a fool for it. Indians are not such fools as to bear this in their
minds."
Governor Denny then asked him if he (Teedyuscung) had
ever been dealt with in such a manner, and the chief replied :
"Yes, I have been served so in this Province; all the land ex-
tending from Tohiccon, over the great mountain, to Wyoming,
has been taken from me by fraud ; for when I agreed to sell the
land to the old Proprietary, by the course of the River, the young
Proprietaries came and got it run by a straight course by the
compass, and by that means took in double the quantity intended
to be sold. ... I did not intend to speak thus, but I have done
it at this time, at your request; not that I desire now you should
purchase these lands, but that you should look into your own
hearts, and consider what is right, and that do."
It is thus seen that Teedyuscung referred directly to the noto-
rious Walking Purchase of 1737. Governor Denny then consulted
Richard Peters and Conrad Weiser about the transactions com-
plained of. Peters said that Teedyuscung's charges should be
considered, inasmuch as they had been made before; but Weiser
advised that none of the Indians attending Teedyuscung at this
second Easton conference had ever owned any of the lands in
question ; that if any were living who had at one time owned the
lands, they had long since removed to the valleys of the Ohio and
Allegheny. Weiser further told the Governor that the land in
question had been bought by the Proprietaries when John and
Thomas Penn were in the Colony; that a line was soon after run
by Indians and surveyors; and that, when a number of the chiefs
of the Delawares complained about the Walking Purchase after-
wards, the deeds were produced and the names of the grantors
attached to them examined at the council held in Philadelphia, in
1742, at which council, after a long hearing, Canassatego as the
speaker of the Six Nations declared that the deeds were correct,
and ordered the Delawares to remove from the bounds of the
purchase.
The Governor then advised Teedyuscung that the deeds to
which he referred were in Philadelphia; that he would examine
them upon his return to the city, and if any injustice had been
done the Delawares, he would see that they should receive full
satisfaction. Some days later, however, Governor Denny denied
that any injustice had been done the Delawares by the Walking
Purchase, but offered a very handsome present to make satisfac-
tion for the injuries which they complained of. This present
328 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
Teedyuscung refused to receive; and the matter was then placed
in charge of an investigating committee.
It was then decided that a general peace should be proclaimed,
provided that the white prisoners were delivered up, and that the
declaration of war and Scalp Act should not apply to any Indians
who would promise to lay down their arms.
Teedyuscung then made the following promise in regard to
the delivery of the captives :
"I will use my utmost endeavors to bring you down your
prisoners. I have to request you that you would give liberty to
all persons and friends to search into these matters; as we are all
children of the Most High, we should endeavor to assist and make
use of one another, and not only so, but from what I have heard,
I believe there is a future state besides this flesh. Now I en-
deavour to act upon both these principles, and will, according to
what I have promised, if the Great Spirit spare my life, come next
spring with as great a force of Indians as I can get to your satis-
faction."
At the close of the conference, Teedyuscung's delegation was
given a present to the value of four hundred pounds, the Governor
advising that the larger part of it was from the Quakers. Teedy-
uscung in his reply urged that the work of peace be continued.
The second peace conference with Teedyuscung, at Easton,
closed on November 17th, 1756. In its minutes, recorded in Pa.
Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages 313 to 338, we read: "Teedyuscung
showed great pleasure in his countenance, and took a kind leave
of the Governor and all present."
Upon the close of the conference, Conrad Weiser, Joseph
Pumpshire and the friendly Delaware chief, Moses Tatemy, ac-
companied Teedyuscung to Bethlehem, and then to Fort Allen,
on his way back to his people. Says Weiser: "Teedyuscung,
quite sober, parted with me with tears in his eyes, recommended
Pumpshire to the Government of Pennsylvania, and desired me
to stand a friend to the Indians, and give good advice, till every
thing that was designed was brought about. Though he is a
drunkard and a very irregular man, yet he is a man that can
think well, and I believe him to be sincere in what he said.'' (Pa.
Archives, Vol. 3, pages 67 and 68.)
About this time, Conrad Weiser had a conversation with
Joseph Pumpshire and the friendly Delaware chief, Moses Tatemy,
in which Tatemy informed him of the full speech Teedyuscung
was to have made, but did not make, through fear of the Six
EFFORTS FOR PEACE, IN 1756 329
Nations' chiefs present at the treaty. The undelivered speech
dealt, in part, with the occupation of the Wyoming Valley by the
Connecticut settlers as being one of the causes of the hostility of
the Indians.
Shortly after the Easton Conference of November, 1756, mur-
ders were committed below the Blue Mountains, which the
Wyoming Delawares disavowed, and when the Governor sent
Mr. Hill with a message to Teedyuscung, he was waylaid on his
journey from Minisink, and murdered, it was claimed, by Iro-
quois. Heckewelder states that the Delawares assured him that
many murders were committed by the Iroquois in order to "pre-
vent the effects of the [Easton] treaty."
Subsequent peace conferences with Teedyuscung, during the
years 1757 and 1758, will be described in later chapters of this
history. The plan was first to work out peace with the Delawares
and Shawnees on the Susquehanna, whose leader Teedyuscung
claimed to be, and then to draw the Delawares and Shawnees of
the Ohio and Allegheny away from the French interest. This
latter was suggested by Teedyuscung and accomplished through
the peace missions of the Moravian missionary. Christian Fred-
erick Post, in the summer and autumn of 1758, as will be seen in
a later chapter.
Obstacles in the Way of Peace
J. S. Walton, in his "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of
Colonial Pennsylvania," thus sets forth the obstacles which con-
fronted Pennsylvania in her efforts to make peace with the hostile
Delawares and Shawnees:
"The prospects of peace were growing more and more embar-
rassing. England, now that war was declared with France, sent
Lord Loudon to America to take charge. Indian affairs were
placed under the control of two men. Sir William Johnson for the
northern, and Mr. Atkins for the southern colonies. Loudon's
policy was to secure as many Indians as possible for allies, and
with them strike the French. To this end Mr. Atkins secured the
alliance of the Cherokee and other southern tribes. These were
immediately added to the armies of Virginia and Western Penn-
sylvania. This act stirred the Northern Indians. The Iroquois
and the Delawares declared that they could never fight on the
same side with the despised Cherokees. This southern alliance
meant northern revolt, and threatened to crush the peace negotia-
tions at Easton. At this critical juncture. Lord Loudon, whose
330 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
ignorance of the problem before him was equalled only by his
contempt for provincialism, ordered the Governor of Pennsyl-
vania to have nothing whatever to do with Indian affairs. Sir
William Johnson, only, should control these things. Moreover,
all efforts towards peace were advantages given to the enemy.
Johnson, however was inclined towards peace, but he seriously
complicated affairs in Pennsylvania by appointing George Cro-
ghan his sole deputy in the Province. Croghan and Weiser had
quite different views upon Indian affairs. The Indians were
quick to notice these changes. Jonathan, an old Mohawk chief,
in conversation with Conrad Weiser said: 'Is it true that you are
become a fallen tree, that you must no more engage in Indian
affairs, neither as counsellor nor interpreter? What is the reason?
Weiser replied, 'It is all too true. The King of Great Britain has
appointed Warruychyockon [Sir William Johnson] to be manager
of all Indian affairs that concern treaties of friendship, war, etc.
And that accordingly the Great General (Lord Loudon) that came
over the Great Waters, had in the name of the King ordered the
Government of Pennsylvania to desist from holding treaties with
the Indians, and the Government of Pennsylvania will obey the
King's command, and consequently I, as the Government's ser-
vant, have nothing more to do with Indian affairs.' Jonathan and
his companion replied in concert, 'Ha! Ha!' meaning 'Oh, sad.'
The two Indians then whispered together a few minutes, during
which Weiser politely withdrew into another room. When he
returned Jonathan said, 'Comrade, I hear you have engaged on
another bottom. You are made a captain of warriors and laid
aside council affairs and turned soldier.'
"To this Weiser replied with some spirit, setting forth his
reasons for self-defense, the bloody outrages of the Indians, the
reception of the first peace messengers. 'You know,' said Weiser.
'that their lives were threatened. You know the insolent answer
which came back that caused us to declare war. I was at Easton
working for peace and if I had my wish there would be no war at
all. . . . So, comrade, do not charge me with such a thing as
that.' The Indians thanked Weiser for the explanation and went
away satisfied. But at the same time Weiser was shorn of his
power among the Indians. Making him commander of the Pro-
vincial forces robbed Pennsylvania of her most powerful advocate
at the council fires of the Indians." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 7, pages
491 and 492.)
'1 o the above statements of Walton we would add that Croghan
EFFORTS FOR PEACE, IN 1756 331
and Weiser never did agree in the conduct of Indian affairs; that
Croghan, on account of his long trading with the Delawares and
Shawnees, was more of a friend of them than he was of the Six
Nations; that Weiser, on account of his having Hved among the
Six Nations in his youth and having always been in close relations
with their great chiefs, especially Shikellamy, was always on their
side in any disputes with the Delawares and Shawnees; that now,
since the chief Indian character in the peace measures, was Teedy-
uscung, a Delaware, Weiser's influence became less than that of
Croghan; that the hatred of the Delawares, Shawnees and Six
Nations for the Catawbas and Cherokees 
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